HISTORY 


OF  THE 


UNITED  STATES 


SANITARY  COMMISSION 


BEING 


THE  GENERAL  REPORT  OF  ITS  WORK  DURING 
THE  WAR  OF  THE  REBELLION. 


BY 


CHARLES    J.    STILLE. 


PHILADELPHIA 
J.    B.     LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 

1866. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

J.   B.    LIPPINCOTT    &    CO., 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PREFACE. 


THE  Sanitary  Commission  at  its  session  in  July,  1865,  adopted 
the  following  resolution : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Standing  Committee  be  instructed  to  employ 
such  literary  and  clerical  assistance  as  it  may  deem  necessary  in  pre 
paring  a  final  History  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  at 
any  expense  which  may  be  required  in  order  to  make  a  useful  and 
dignified  record  of  the  work  which  the  American  people  have  done 
through  its  Agency." 

In  pursuance  of  this  resolution  the  Standing  Committee 
decided,  after  careful  deliberation,  that  the  report  of  the  Com 
mission's  work  during  the  war  should  be  presented  to  the  public 
in  three  distinct  parts,  as  follows : 

First :  A  General  History  of  the  Commission's  origin,  purposes, 
and  methods  of  operation. 

Second:  A  Narrative  of  its  Special  Relief  service. 

Third:  An  Account  of  the  organization  and  practical  working 
of  its  Supply  System. 

I  was  assigned  by  the  Committee  to  the  task  of  preparing  the 
General  History,  and  the  present  volume  is  the  result  of  ray 
labors.  It  is  now  published  by  the  Commission  as  the  official 
Report  of  its  operations  during  the  war.  With  the  view  of 
rendering  this  final  record  complete  and  accurate,  the  Archives 
of  the  Commission,  and  those  of  nearly  all  its  Branches,  com- 


IV  PREFACE. 

prising  many  thousand  documents  have  been  placed  at  my  dispo 
sal,  and  much  time  and  labor  have  been  expended  in  examining, 
and  classifying  for  historical  purposes,  the  material  contained  in 
them.  The  principal  difficulty  has  been  so  to  employ  the  riches 
found  in  this  great  storehouse  as  to  illustrate  fully  the  subject, 
without  encumbering  its  discussion  with  details  which  would 
prove  wearisome  to  the  general  reader. 

I  have  been  kindly  assisted  in  my  work  by  several  of  my 
friends  and  colleagues,  whose  position  as  officers  of  the  Commis 
sion  rendered  them  specially  qualified  to  treat  of  certain  import 
ant  portions  of  its  history.  Thus  the  chapter  on  "  CONTRIBU 
TIONS  FROM  CALIFORNIA  AND  THE  PACIFIC  COAST"  in  this 
volume  has  been  prepared  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  President  of  the 
Commission ;  that  on  its  "  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  AND  HISTORY," 
by  Mr.  George  T.  Strong,  its  Treasurer ;  and  that  on  the  opera 
tions  of  its  "BUREAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS,"  by  Dr.  B.  A. 
Gould,  its  Actuary. 

The  object  of  the  Commission  in  publishing  an  official  Report 
of  its  work  is  two-fold.  It  feels  that  the  share  of  those  who 
contributed  in  any  way  to  sustain  it  should  be  commemorated  by 
a  lasting  memorial,  and  it  is  moved  by  an  imperative  sense  of  its 
duty  to  posterity,  to  place  on  record  for  its  example  and  guidance 
an  account  of  the  practical  working  of  the  most  successful  method 
of  mitigating  the  horrors  of  war  known  in  history.  With  this 
design,  and  in  this  spirit,  this  volume  has  been  prepared.  It  has 
been  found  impossible  in  a  general  history  such  as  this,  to  do  that 
full  justice  to  individuals  which  gratitude,  and  a  sense  of  the 
value  of  their  services,  would  dictate.  In  the  other  volumes,  now 
in  course  of  preparation,  and  which  are  confined  to  the  explora- 


PREFACE.  V 

tion  of  a  limited  and  special  field,  this  omission  will  in  some 
measure  be  supplied. 

But  the  Commission  feels,  that  while  an  expression  of  its 
grateful  appreciation  of  the  services  and  self-sacrificing  efforts  of 
its  Constituents  should  not  be  withheld  in  any  history  of  its  work, 
the  story  it  has  to  tell  has  a  far  deeper  import  and  significance. 
If  it  can  succeed  by  presenting  a  faithful  record  of  its  experience, 
in  showing  how  grand  a  work  of  beneficence  was  done  by  the 
American  people  for  their  Armies  through  its  agency, — if  it  can 
impress  upon  the  minds  of  those  who  may  read  its  Report  a 
belief  in  the  truth'  of  its  theory,  and  the  practical  success  of  its 
methods, — if  it  can  teach  those  who  come  after  us,  when  the 
misfortune  of  war  befalls  them,  as  it  has  done  us,  how  much  may 
be  done  to  relieve  its  misery  by  a  wise  system  of  organized 
voluntary  effort, — if  it  can  explain  even  imperfectly,  how  a  vol 
untary  system  can  work  efficiently  in  harmony  with  Government 
agencies, — if,  in  fine,  it  can  make  clear  how  much  there  is  in  the 
necessary  relations  between  such  a  system  and  the  Government, 
to  strengthen  and  encourage  the  action  of  popular  sympathy,  as 
well  as  to  embarrass  and  weaken  its  efforts,  then,  the  principal 
objects  which  the  Commission  has  in  view  in  publishing  this 
record  will  be  accomplished. 

The  Commission  is  perfectly  aware  that  in  presenting  a  history 
of  events  of  such  recent  occurrence,  in  which  it  has  been  neces 
sary  to  speak  of  the  acts  of  many  persons  still  living,  it  has  un 
dertaken  a  task  both  difficult  and  perilous.  While  it  has 
avoided  in  its  Report  the  discussion  of  questions  the  importance 
of  which  ceased  with  the  war,  it  has  not  hesitated  to  criticise  with 
the  utmost  freedom  the  policy  and  measures  of  the  Government, 


VI  PREFACE. 

where  they  seemed  radically  defective  in  providing  for  the  care 
and  comfort  of  the  sick  and  suffering  of  the  Army.  This  has 
been  done  in  no  spirit  of  mere  fault-finding,  but  with  the  higher 
object  of  teaching  future  generations  to  avoid  the  errors  of  the 
present.  He  who,  at  the  termination  of  a  successful  war,  bestows 
indiscriminate  eulogy  on  all  the  measures  adopted  by  the  Gov 
ernment  for  its  prosecution,  is  not  the  best  friend  of  his  country, 
but  rather  he,  who,  having  clearly  seen  its  short-comings,  does 
not  hesitate  to  expose  the  evils  which  have  flowed  from  them,  and 
raises  a  voice  of  warning  against  their  recurrence. 

C.  J.  S. 
PHILADELPHIA,  June,  1866. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NATURE  AND  OBJECT  OF  ARMY  RELIEF. 

PAGE 

The  Office  and  Teachings  of  History 17 

Characteristics  of  the  Late  War — The  popular  element  in  the  war 18 

Organization  of  popular  benevolence 19 

Nature  of  the  sympathy  felt  for  the  volunteers 20 

Peculiar  dangers  to  which  new  troops  are  exposed 21 

Ignorance  and  inexperience  of  their  officers 22 

Characteristics  of  the  first  volunteers 23 

General  neglect  of  precautionary  measures 25 

Apprehension  felt  for  the  result 26 

Experience  of  the  Crimean  War 27 

What  was  taught  by  that  experience 28 

The  influence  of  such  teachings  in  favor  of  similar  measures  here 30 

The  functions  of  the  English  Sanitary  Commission 31 

Condition  of  the  Regiments  on  their  arrival  at  Washington 33 

American  method  of  remedying  great  public  evils 34 

Preventive  measures  suggested 36 

Dangers  of  extra-official  intervention 37 


CHAPTER  II. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  THEORY  OF  A  PREVENTIVE  SERVICE. 

The  first  relief  movement  made  by  the  women  of  the  country 39 

Women's  Central  Relief  Association  of  New  York 40 

First  public  meeting  for  army  relief  in  New  York 42 

Dr.  Bellows'  interview  with  Dr.  Satterlee,  Medical  Purveyor 43 

Effect  of  statements  made  by  Dr.  Satterlee 44 

Movement  of  certain  Medical  Associations  in  New  York 45 

Delegation  sent  to  Washington 46 

vii 


vili  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Condition  of  things  there — Interview  with  General  Scott — Ke-inspection 

of  troops 47 

Interview  with  the  Acting  Surgeon-General 

Views  of  the  Delegation  in  regard  to  discipline 49 

Preventive  scheme  proposed 

Comparative  value  of  preventive  measures 51 

Objections  to  a  merely  advisory  system 52 

Letter  of  the  Delegation  to  the  Secretary  of  War 53 

Letter  of  the  Acting  Surgeon-General  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  asking  for 

the  appointment  of  a  Sanitary  Commission 54 

Names  of  the  Commissioners  suggested  by  the  Acting  Surgeon-General...  55 

Opposition  in  the  War  Department 57 

Dr.  Finley  appointed  Surgeon-General.     His  opposition 59 

Contrast  between  the  action  of  our  government  and  that  of  Great  Britain 

in  the  Crimea...         • 61 


CHAPTER  III. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 

Names  of  the  Commissioners 63 

First  meeting  of  the  Commission 64 

Plan  of  organization 65 

System  of  relief 67 

Sketch  of  the  Commissioners.     Rev.  Dr.  Bellows 68 

Professor  Alexander  Dallas  Bache 70 

Dr.  VanBuren 71 

Professor  Gibbs 72 

Dr.  Elisha  Harris 72 

Dr.  C.  R.  Agnew— Mr.  George  T.  Strong 73 

Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry 74 

Resident  or  General  Secretary 75 

Appointment  of   Frederick  Law  Olmsted — Theory  of   the  relations  be 
tween  the  Government  and  the  Commission 76 

Confidential  nature  of  those  relations 78 

Camp  and  Hospital  Inspection 79 

Financial  policy  of  the  Commission 80 

Motives  for  declining  Government  support 81 

Modes  of  raising  money 

Necessity  of  educating  the  public  mind  in  regard  to  the  value  of  a  preven 
tive  system 83 

Appeal  to  Life  Insurance  Companies 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER  IV. 

INSPECTION  OF  CAMPS  AND  HOSPITALS. 

PAGE 

Organization    of  the    System    of  Inspection — Inspection  of  Camps  near 

Washington 85 

Inspection  of  Camps  at  the  West — Action  of  Commission  on  the  Report  of 

the  Inspectors 87 

The  Battle  of  Bull's  Run — Inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  Defeat 88 

Reform  in  the  Discipline  of  the  Army 91 

Lessons  taught  by  the  defeat •••  92 

Condition  of  the  Military  Hospitals 93 

Plans  for  Hospital  buildings  prepared  by  the  Commission 94 

Result  of  the  New  System 95 

Plans  of  Inspection,  enlarged  and  systematized 96 

Six  permanent  Inspectors  appointed 97 

Influence  of  the  work  of  Inspection  in  the  Army 98 

General  results  of  systematic  Inspection — Relations  with  the  Head  of  the 

Medical  Bureau 100 

Various  recommendations  to  secure  greater  efficiency  in  the  service 102 

Ambulance  Regiment 103 

Complaints  of  a  want  of  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  Medical  Bureau..  104 

Various  departments  of  the  Commission's  work  organized 105 

The  Commission's  Report  to  the  Secretary  of  War 106 

CHAPTER  V. 

RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUREAU   AND   APPOINTMENT  OF   A   NEW  SUR 
GEON-GENERAL. 

Military  Expeditions  in  the  early  part  of  1862 109 

Preparation  and  distribution  of  Medical  and  Surgical  Monographs 110 

Re-organization  of  the  Medical  Bureau Ill 

Motives  which  led  to  action  in  this  matter 112 

The  full  scope  of  the  Commission's  work  not  then  understood — Defects  in 

certain  Government  Bureaus  at  the  commencement  of  the  war 114 

Difficulty  in  securing  Government  action 115 

Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  Medical  Bureau 116 

Limited  scale  of  its  operations  before  the  war 117 

Hospital  system  before  the  war 118 

No  Inspection  of  Camps  and  Hospitals 119 

Relations  with  the  Quartermaster  and  Subsistence  Departments 120 

Evils  resulting  from  the  inadequacy  of  the  Bureau 122 

Objects  proposed  by  the  Re-organization 123 

The  subject  brought  before  Congress 124 

B 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAQB 

Obstacles  to  its  due  consideration  .....................................  125 

Passage  of  the  bill.     Its  provisions  ..................................  126 

Efforts  to  secure  the  appointment  of  the  Surgeon-General  ......................  127 

Dr.  William  A.  Hammond  .....................................  128 

Interview  of  Dr.  Van  Buren  with  the  Secretary  of  War  ..........  132 

Appointment  of  Dr.  Hammond  as  Surgeon-General  .....................  133 

Difficulties  of  his  position  ...............................  134 

Personal   controversy  between   the   Secretary   of  War  and  the  Surgeon- 
General 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HOSPITAL  TRANSPORT  SERVICE  IN  THE  WEST  AND  IN  THE  PENINSULAR  CAMPAIGN. 

HOSPITAL  CARS. 

Development  of  the  work  at  the  West—  Dr.  Newberry  .................  138 

Eesults  of  Dr.  Newberry's  labors  in  organizing  the  West  ............  141 

He  establishes  his  Headquarters  at  Louisville—  Organization  of  Soldiers' 

Homes  .........................................................  142 

Military  operations  at  the  West.     Capture  of  Fort  Donelson  ................  ,.  143 

Transportation  of  the  wounded  in  steamers  ..............................  144 

Organization  of  Hospital  Steamers  by  the  Commission  .............  ..  145 

Belief  afforded  by  the  Agents  of  the  Commission—  Similar  service  after 

the  battle  of  Shiloh  ..................................................  147 

Various  difficulties  in  the  Hospital  Transport  Service  ..................  149 

Hospital  transports  in  charge  of  State  Agents  ................................  150 

Injurious  effect  of  anti-national  methods  of  relief  ................................   151 

Transport  service  in  the  Peninsular  Campaign  ...................................  153 

The  Sanitary  transport  Daniel  Webster  ...........................  154 

Peculiar  difficulties  of  the  service  .....................................  155 

Relations  with  Government  officers  while  performing  this  service  ............  156 

Embarrassments  of  a  volunteer  service  of  this  kind  ..............................  157 

Intervention  of  the  Surgeon-General  .........................................  159 

Hospital  Cars  ................................................  160 

Objects  to  be  attained  by  them..!  ..........................  161 

Plan  approved  by  the  Quartermaster-General  .....................................   162 

Description  of  the  Hospital  cars  ...............................  163 

Development  of  the  system—  Transfer  of  the  cars  to  the  Medical  Bureau...  164 


CHAPTER  VH. 

SUPPLEMENTAL  HOSPITAL  SUPPLIES. 
Popular  error  in  regard  to  the  work  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 166 


CONTENTS.  XI 


Organization  of  the  Supply  Department 167 

Supply  depots  established 168 

The  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  women  of  the  country  organized 170 

Nature  and  motive  of  this  sympathy 172 

Objections  to  Volunteer  and  supplemental  aid  considered 174 

Necessity  of  studying  the  special  needs  of  the  soldier 176 

Council  of  women  held  in  Washington 178 

Aid  of  the  Associate  Members  of  the  Commission  invoked 179 

Action  of   the  Associate    Members    in  different  parts  of  the  country — 

Boston 180 

New  York— Philadelphia 181 

Cincinnati — Chicago 183 

General  results  of  the  supply  organization 184 

Canvassing  Agents — Sanitary  Reporter  and  Sanitary  Bulletin 187 

Influence  of  the  Aid  Societies  in  favor  of  the  National  cause 188 

Powerful  effect  of  this  influence  in  certain  localities 191 

Other  services  of  Associate  Members...  194 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  CALIFORNIA  AND  THE  PACIFIC  COAST. 

Original  design  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 197 

Limited  amount  of  money  required  at  the  outset 197 

Contributions  of  supplies 198 

More  money  required  to  meet  its  enlarged  plans 199 

Contribution  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  from  California 200 

State  of  the  Commission's  treasury  at  that  time 201 

Effect  of  this  contribution 202 

General  attention  attracted  by  it 202 

Spirit  of  emulation  excited  by  it 205 

General  sketch  of  California 206 

Exciting  nature  of  life  in  that  region 209 

How  the  people  there  were  affected  by  the  war 210 

Their  Patriotism 211 

Thomas  Starr  King 212 

California  offers  troops 213 

First  efforts  to  raise  contributions  for  army  relief 214 

Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Citizen's  Committee 214 

California  Branch  of  the  Commission.     Visit  of  Dr.  Bellows 231 

Organization  of  Aid  Societies 232 

System  of  canvassing  on  the  Pacific  coast.     Its  results 233 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

Means  resorted  to  to  stimulate  public  interest 234 

Sales  at  auction 234 

Sack  of  sanitary  flour 236 

Sacramento  238 

Nevada 239 

Oregon — Washington  Territory 240 

Idaho,  Colorado,  Vancouver,  Peru,  Costa  Kica,  Sandwich  Islands 241 

General  conclusions ..  242 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  SUPPLIES— GENERAL  AND  BATTLE-FIELD  RELIEF. 

Different  forms  of  Army  Relief ; 244 

Principle  on  which  relief  was  bestowed ..  245 

Its  design  to  Supplement  the  Government  service 245 

How  it  differed  from  other  systems  of  Army  Relief 247 

Personal  ministrations  to  the  suffering 249 

Machinery  for  the  distribution  of  supplies 249 

Relief  Agents 250 

Vast  scale  upon  which  relief  was  afforded 251 

Opinion  of  the  Generals  concerning  the  relief  Work 253 

FieldRelief  Corps 255 

Character  and  instruction  of  the  Agents 255 

System  of  paid  Agents 258 

Discipline  of  the  Field  Relief  Corps.... 259 

Battle-Field  Relief 260 

The  Battle  of  Antietam 262 

Suffering  of  the  wounded  for  want  of  supplies 263 

Preparations  of  the  Commission  for  this  battle 265 

Transportation  of  Government  supplies  from  New  York 267 

Success  of  the  Commission's  plans  of  relief 267 

William  Platt,  Junior 268 

The  battle  of  Perryville 270 

Independent  transportation  for  Medical  Supplies 271 

Auxiliary  Relief  Corps 272 

Peculiar  duties  of  this  Corps 27*3 

It  enters  upon  its  duties ^  275 

Work  at  Belle  Plain  and  Fredericksburg 276 

Work  at  Fredericksburg  continued ..  276 

Peculiar  advantages  of  this  form  of  Relief 277 

Work  in  the  Hospitals  at  City  Point ..  280 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

PAGE 

Fidelity  and  devotion  of  the  members  of  this  Corps 281 

William  Wilson 281 

Charles  H.  Stanley— Professor  Hadley 282 

Mrs.  General  Barlow...  284 


CHAPTER  X. 

SPECIAL  RELIEF  SERVICE. 

Nature  of  the  Special  Belief  Work 287 

What  induced  the  Commission  to  undertake  it 288 

Action  of  the  Commission  on  this  subject  in  June  1861 289 

"Soldiers'  Home"  established  at  Washington 291 

"Soldiers'  Homes"  at  various  other  points 294 

Characteristics  of  the  relief  afforded  by  them 295 

Military  discipline  not  violated 296 

Feeding  Stations  for  sick  and  disabled  men 298 

Their  great  value  in  certain  emergencies 299 

Convalescent  camps 301 

Special  relief  in  these  camps 302 

Belief  of  men  returning  from  rebel  prisons 304 

This  form  of  Belief  at  Wilmington  and  on  the  Bed  Biver 306 

Hospital  Directory 307 

The  mode  of  consulting  it,  and  its  value 310 

War-Claim  Agency 310 

Care  of  the  wives  and  mothers  of  disabled  soldiers 314 

Fresh  Hospital  supplies  at  Washington 314 

Employment  of  detectives — Couriers 315 

General  results  of  Special  Belief  Service 316 


CHAPTER  XI. 

WARFARE  AGAINST  SCURVY— CAMPAIGN  OF  VICKSBURG. 

General  work  in  the  West  during  the  summer  of  1862 320 

The  Army  of  the  Tennessee  and  the  Cumberland  divided 321 

Symptoms  of  Scurvy  appear 322 

Measures  taken  to  check  its  progress 323 

Condition  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  after  the  battle  of  Stone  Biver.  324 

The  nature  of  Scurvy 324 

Efforts  of  the  officers  to  procure  vegetables 325 

Vegetables  issued  to  the  officers  but  not  to  private  Soldiers 326 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Application  of  the  Medical  Authorities  to  the  Commission  for  Aid — Ship 
ment  of  vegetables 327 

Farmers  of  the  West  called  upon  for  contributions 329 

Kesults  of  this  appeal 329 

Hospital  Gardens 329 

Movements  of  General  Grant's  Army  of  the  Tennessee 331 

Work  of  the  Commission  in  that  Army  before  Vicksburg ; 333 

Co-operation  of  General  Grant 333 

The  Army  in  its  march  around  Vicksburg 334 

Keport  of  Dr.  Warriner,  Sanitary  Inspector 336 

Vast  contributions  of  supplies  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg 337 

Character  and  services  of  the  Commission's  Agents  at  Vicksburg 339 

Supplies  to  garrisons  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  branches 340 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHATTANOOGA. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  moves  southward 342 

Materiel  of  the  Army.     Difficulties  of  transportation 343 

Embarrassment  of  the  Medical  Officers 345 

Opening  of  the  campaign 345 

Limited  supplies  after  the  Battle  of  Chickamauga 347 

Aid  offered  by  the  Commission 349 

Feeding  Stations  established 350 

The  battle  of  Chattanooga 351 

Condition  of  the  Army  during  the  winter  of  1863-4 352 

Change  in  the  physical  condition  of  the  men 352 

Prevalent  types  of  disease 355 

Belief  of  the  garrison  at  Knoxville 356 

Care  of  troops  in  garrison  in  the  rear  of  the  Army 356 

Three-fold  nature  of  the  relief  afforded 357 

Feeding  Stations 358 

Hospital  Visitors 359 

Distribution  of  stores  in  Hospitals 360 

Efforts  to  prepare  Sherman's  Army  for  the  campaign  in  Georgia 361 

Administration  of  the  Hospital  Service  during  the  campaign 362 

Work  at  the  Feeding  Stations 364 

Appreciation  of  the  Commission's  work  by  the  Commanding  officers 364 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

FREDERICKSBURG— GETTYSBURG— THE  WILDERNESS. 

PAGE 

Improved  condition  of  the  Army  after  Antietam 367 

First  battle  of  Fredericksburg 368 

Work  of  the  Commission  after  that  battle 369 

Woolen  clothing  provided  for  the  men  in  Hospitals 370 

Transportation  of  the  wounded — Feeding  Stations 371 

Condition  of  the  Army  during  the  winter  of  1862-3 372 

Battle  of  Chancellorsville 373 

The  Army  moves  northward 374 

Preparations  for  the  battle  of  Gettysburg 375 

Battle  of  Gettysburg — Agents  and  Supplies  with  the  Army 376 

Agents  of  the  Commission  made  Prisoners  of  War 377 

Supplies  sent  by  way  of  Westminster 378 

Scenes  at  the  Commission's  store-house  in  the  town 380 

Special  Relief  Work — Lodge  and  Feeding  Station 381 

Nature  and  extent  of  the  work  done 382 

Relief  to  the  wounded  rebels  at  Gettysburg 385 

Effect  of  this  relief  on  the  enemy .' 387 

Great  necessity  of  volunteer  relief  at  Gettysburg 388 

Commission's  Agents  on  that  field 389 

The  Army  returns  to  the  Rapidan 390 

Preparations  for  the  Spring  Campaign  of  1864 391 

Work  after  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness 392 

Vast  accumulation  of  wounded — Their  transportation 392 

The  Army  base  transferred  to  Port  Royal 395 

White  House— Battles  of  Cold  Harbor 396 

The  Commission's  wagon  train 397 

City  Point — Losses  in  the  campaign 397 

Distribution  of  anti-scorbutics 398 

Amount  of  work  done  in  this  campaign — Expenses 399 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MORRIS  ISLAND— OLUSTEE— NEWBERNE. 

Commission's  Agents  with  the  expedition  against  Port  Royal 402 

Reputed  unhealthiness  of  the  climate 403 

Movement  against  Charleston — Two  Inspectors  appointed 404 

Transportation  of  discharged  disabled  soldiers 405 

Landing  on  Morris  Island 406 


XVI  CONTEXTS. 

PAGE 

Capture  of  the  lower  works — Assault  on  Fort  Wagner 407 

Work  of  the  Commission  during  these  operations 408 

Siege  operations  against  Fort  Wagner 410 

Large  supplies  of  ice  furnished  the  troops  by  the  Commission 412 

The  siege  memorable  in  a  novel  aspect 412 

Low  sickness  rate  among  the  troops  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Wagner 413 

Expedition  to  Florida 413 

The  battle  of  Olustee 414 

Work  of  the  Commission  after  that  Battle 415 

General  Reflections 416 

Agents  of  the  Commission  in  this  Department 417 

Work  in  North  Carolina 419 

Hospital  Garden  at  Newberne 420 

Yellow  Fever  at  Newberne  in  September,  1864 421 

Aid  afforded  by  the  Commission 421 


CHAPTER  XV. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  GULF. 

General  Butler's  Expedition 423 

Sanitary  Precautions  taken  by  him — Results 424 

General  Banks  assumes  command  of  the  Army 426 

The  battle  of  Franklin 427 

Siege  of  Port  Hudson 429 

"Soldiers'  Home"  at  New  Orleans 429 

Improvements  in  the  transportation  of  disabled  men 430 

Exchange  of  Prisoners — Relief  afforded 431 

Red  River  Expedition 433 

Supplies  of  vegetables  to  the  Coast  Garrisons 434 

Character  of  the  Agents 435 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

SPECIAL  INSPECTION  OF  HOSPITALS. 

Work  enlarged  in  consequence  of  contributions  from  California 436 

Condition  of  the  Hospitals  in  September  1862 437 

Defects  in  the  Hospital  System  at  that  time 437 

Efforts  of  the  Surgeon-General  to  remedy  these  evils 439 

A  special  inspection  of  Hospitals  proposed.: 440 


CONTENTS.  XV11 

PAGE 

Corps  of  Special  Inspectors  organized 441 

Their  instructions ". 442 

They  enter  upon  their  work 443 

General  results — Hospital  buildings 444 

Character  of  the  Medical  Officers  in  charge 444 

This  Inspection  supplemental  only 446 

Various  improvements  suggested 447 

Depots  of  supplies — Government  laboratories 447 

New  Supply  table — Hospital  Clothing — Boards  of  examination 448 

Hospital  Reports — Army  Medical'Museum — Hospital  buildings 449 

The  Commission  aids  and  encourages  these  Improvements 450 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  COMMISSION'S  BUREAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS. 

Value  of  General  laws 451 

Early  efforts  to  acquire  statistical  information 451 

The  nature  and  value  of  statistics 452 

Statistics  concerning  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run 453 

Statistical  Bureau  organized 454 

Indirect  influence  of  its  work  in  the  early  part  of  the  war 456 

Tabulation  of  the  daily  reports  of  General  Hospitals 457 

Tabulation  of  loss  and  gain  returns 458 

Ages  of  the  troops  and  physical  characteristics 459 

Dr.  Gould  takes  charge  of  the  Bureau 461 

Interesting  results  in  regard  to  the  ages  of  the  men 462 

The  American  Element  shown  to  preponderate  in  enlistments 463 

Investigation  concerning  the  effect  of  forced  marches 464 

Present  condition  of  the  material  in  the  Bureau 465 

Scientific  value  of  the  work...  ..  467 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

FINANCIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COMMISSION. 

Appointment  of  a  Central  Financial  Committee 468 

First  appeals  for  money 469 

Result  of  these  appeals 470 

Second  appeal  August  13,  1861 471 

Circular  letter  of  December  1861 472 

Condition  of  the  Treasury  in  the  early  part  of  1862 472 

Appeal  in  March,  1862— Its  failure 473 

C    - 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PACE 

Hospital  transport  service 475 

How  far  sustained  by  the  Commission's  Treasury 476 

Contributions  in  the  summer  of  1862 477 

Treasury  Exhausted  by  the  demands  of  these  campaigns 477 

California's  contribution — Its  value  direct  and  indirect 479 

Contributions  from  December  1862  to  July  1863 480 

Vast  increase  of  expenses 481 

Last  appeal  issued  in  December  1863 481 

Thanksgiving  collections — Sanitary  Fairs 482 

Some  items  of  Expenditure  at  this  period 484 

State  of  the  Treasury  at  the  close  of  the  war 486 

Lessons  taught  by  its  financial  history — Total  receipts 487 

Receipts  of  the  Branch  Treasuries • 488 

Facilities  afforded  by  Steamboat  Express  Telegraph  Companies 489 

Methods  taken  to  insure  exactness  and  fidelity  in  the  disbursement  of  funds.  492 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION— RELATIONS  WITH  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

The  Commission  combined  various  methods  to  accomplish  its  object 494 

The  Board — Its  composition  and  functions 495 

Meetings  of  the  Board — Nature  of  the  business  transacted 497 

Standing  Committee — Its  duties 499 

Position  and  duties  of  the  General  Secretary 502 

Number  and  character  of  the  subordinate  Agents 506 

Adaptation  of  means  to  the  end  by  the  Commission 506 

Its  policy  free  from  partisan  influences 507 

Relations  with  the  Government 508 

Causes  of  a  want  of  sympathy 510 

The  Commission  a  healthy  stimulant  to  Government 513 

Aid  afforded  by  all  officers  on  active  service 514 

Quartermaster's  Department 514 

General  conclusions 516 


THE  UNITED  STATES 


SAMTAKY  COMMISSION 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NATUEE  AND  OBJECT  OF  AEMY  BELIEF. 

THE  History  of  the  great  Rebellion,  probably  to  a 
greater  extent  than  that  of  any  war,  is  fruitful  in 
lessons  which  concern  man  as  a  citizen  of  The  office  and 


a  state  founded  upon  the  ideas  of  modern  ' 


civilization.  The  highest  office  of  all  history,  as 
is  now  universally  recognized,  is  instruction,  in 
order  that  from  its  teachings  future  generations  may 
learn  to  avoid  the  errors  of  the  past.  When  written 
with  this  intention,  it  has  comparatively  little  to  do 
with  the  details  of  mere  military  operations,  or  the 
intrigues  of  courts  or  cabinets,  or  even  with  the  heroic 
achievements  which  have  shed  lustre  on  the  national 
character.  These  are  topics  which  have  engaged  al 
most  wholly  the  attention  of  those  who  have  related 
the  story  of  former  wars  ;  and  certainly  there  is  enough 
in  the  annals  of  the  war  which  subdued  the  Rebel 
lion,  when  fittingly  told,  to  serve  the  great  pur 
pose  of  keeping  alive  the  national  gratitude  and  per- 
s  ir 


18  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

petuating  the  national  glory.  Still  it  is  impossible  to 
gain  a  complete  and  harmonious  view  of  the  lessons 
taught  by  the  war,  unless  we  embrace  in  it  all  the 
great  agencies,  many  of  them  wholly  novel  in  history, 
which  combined  to  bring  it  to  a  successful  termination. 

The  American  war  was  a  popular  one  in  the  widest 
sense,  not  only  a  war  the  prosecution  of  which  was 
characteristics  maintained  by  unprecedented  popular  en- 
Of  the  Late  War.  thusiasm,  but  a  war  the  origin,  progress,  and 
methods  of  which  were  all  peculiar  in  this,  that  they 
were  modified  and  controlled  by  the  great  popular 
ideas  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  American  civilization. 
If  we  wish,  then,  to  gain  any  true  view  of  the  prin 
ciples  involved  in  the  struggle,  and  to  understand 
fully  the  novel  and  striking  lessons  which  it  developed, 
it  is  essential  to  study  the  nature  of  these  popular 
ideas  and  their  influence  upon  the  modes  adopted  by 
the  government  in  prosecuting  the  war.  The  power 
of  the  public  opinion  of  a  free  people  in  controlling 
the  military  policy  of  a  country  has  been  remarked  in 
other  nations  and  in  former  wars.  Never  has  there 
been  an  instance  in  History  such  as  that  presented 
in  this  country  during  the  late  war,  in  which  every 
thing  which  was  accomplished,  good  or  bad,  was  due 
to  the  impulse  of  popular  ideas. 

Thus  its  history  presents  far  more  than  that 
of  any  other  war  a  true  picture  of  the  civilization  of 
The  popular  eie-  the  people  who  conducted  it.  It  is  not 
mentinthewar.  merely  to  the  indirect  influence  of  this  popu 
lar  element  upon  the  policy  of  the  government,  power 
ful  as  it  was,  that  the  student  of  our  recent  history 
must  direct  his  attention,  but  also  to  those  organiza- 


NATURE   AND    OBJECT    OF   ARMY    RELIEF.  19 

tions  of  popular  enthusiasm,  sympathy  and  benevolence 
wholly  outside  of  the  government,  but  all  undertaken 
to  strengthen  its  hands,  without  whose  potent  influence 
manifested  in  a  thousand  ways,  the  result  of  the 
war  might  have  been  disastrous.  It  would  be  indeed 
a  matter  of  curious  and  interesting  speculation  to 
inquire  how  long  and  how  effectively  the  government 
could  have  carried  on  the  war  without  the  aid  of  this 
organized  popular  sympathy.  It  is  proposed  in  the 
following  pages  to  give  the  history  of  one  of  these 
extra-governmental  organizations,  and  to  claim  for 
it  whatever  may  be  due  to  the  intelligence,  humanity 
and  patriotism  of  the  American  people  acting  through 
its  agency  with  the  design  of  promoting  the  health, 
comfort  and  efficiency  of  the  vast  armies  called  into 
the  field  to  subdue  the  rebellion. 

The  very  first  popular  impulse  which  succeeded  the 
grand  burst  of  enthusiasm  by  which  seventy-five  thou 
sand  citizens  were  suddenly  transformed  at  Organization  of 

11  .  popular  benevo- 

the  call  ot  their  country  into  soldiers,  was  ience, 
directed  to  some  rude  and  imperfect  means  of  minis 
tering  to  them  such  aid  and  comfort  as  was  suggested 
by  the  anxious  and  tender  solicitude  of  their  friends, 
rather  than  by  considerations  of  the  necessities  of  a 
military  organization.  This  impulse  was  as  earnest, 
and  as  spontaneous,  and  as  general,  on  the  part  of  those 
who  staid  at  home,  as  that  which  rallied  round  the  flag 
of  the  country  the  very  flower  of  its  youth.  Through 
out  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  men  who 
were  unable  to  bear  arms,  and  women,  true  sisters  of 
mercy,  whose  record  of  deeds  of  charity  in  this  war 
forms  perhaps  the  brightest  chapter  in  its  whole  his- 


20  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

tory,  were  inspired  with  a  zeal  and  enthusiasm  in 
behalf  of  those  who  went  forth  in  their  stead,  which  in 
its  depth  and  earnestness,  and  at  last,  as  experience 
was  gained,  in  its  practical  efficiency,  was  wholly 
unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  other  nations.  In  other 
countries  and  in  former  wars,  particularly  in  grand 
revolutionary  uprisings,  which  have  stirred  the  popu 
lar  heart  from  its  lowest  depths,  evidence  is  not  want 
ing  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  spirit  of  lofty  sacrifice 
for  the  welfare  of  those  who  defended  the  cause  with 
their  lives.  In  most  cases,  however,  this  enthusiasm 
was  not  of  long  duration,  and  produced  but  a  feeble 
impression  upon  the  general  progress  of  the  war ;  in 
all  it  lacked  that  peculiar  element  of  organization  so 
characteristic  of  our  American  system,  which,  when 
guided  and  directed  by  zealous  patriotism,  and  practi 
cal  good  sense  and  benevolent  feeling,  has  made  the 
history  of  this  war  quite  as  remarkable  in  those  as 
pects  which  concern  the  progress  of  humanity,  as  in 
the  many  lessons  which  it  teaches  of  the  successful 
determination  of  a  free  people  to  maintain  its  na 
tionality. 

There  were  many  reasons  aside  from  zeal  for  the 
cause  in  which  they  were  engaged,  both  in  the  character 
Nature  of  the  of  the  volunteers  raised  immediately  after 
sympathy  felt  t^  f  j}  f  gumter  and  the  circumstances  by 

for  the  volun 
teers,  which  they  had  been  suddenly  transformed 

into  soldiers,  which  made  them  from  the  beginning 
peculiarly  the  objects  of  tender  popular  care  and  solici 
tude.  The  nuclei  of  all  the  first  regiments  raised  were 
the  militia  or  volunteer  companies  existing  in  the 
various  towns  and  cities  throughout  the  country. 


NATURE   AND    OBJECT    OF   ARMY    RELIEF.  21 

These  companies  represented  all  the  available  military 
organization  of  the  country  at  that  time  outside  of  the 
regular  army,  and  although  they  were  composed  wholly 
of  young  men  of  character,  intelligence  and  courage, 
such  as  had  never  before  made  up  the  rank  and  file  of 
any  army,  they  were  on  many  accounts  those  likely  to 
suffer  most  seriously  from  the  fatigues  and  privations  of 
a  soldier's  life.  Most  of  them  had  had  no  experience 
whatever  of  campaigning,  and  their  knowledge  of  a 
soldier's  duties  was  confined  to  the  requirements  of  a 
holiday  parade.  Being  generally  residents  in  populous 
towns  or  cities,  their  habits  were  those  acquired  by  the 
indoor-life  of  students,  artizans,  and  tradesmen  of  dif 
ferent  sorts.  Their  officers  were  as  ignorant  as  they, 
selected  as  they  had  been  for  their  position  in  organi 
zations  which  had  existed  before  the  war  by  their  com 
rades  rather  on  the  score  of  good  fellowship,  than 
because  they  were  supposed  to  possess  any  military 
qualification  whatever  for  actual  service.  In  short,  for 
any  real  efficiency,  the  military  organization  as  it 
existed  before  the  war,  or  as  it  was  hastily  improvised 
by  regiments  raised  in  a  few  days  immediately  after 
ward,  and  then  hurried  on  to  the  "  front,"  was  almost 
valueless. 

To  the  calm  observer  who  knew  anything  of  history, 
the  view  of  this  mass  of  enthusiastic  and  undisciplined 
men,  calling  themselves  soldiers  suggested  pecuiiardangers 
some  sad  forebodings.  It  constituted  a  pre-  to  wMch  new 

troops   are  e  x  - 

cious  element  of  the  vital  force  of  the  popu-  posed, 
lation,  and  was  composed  precisely  of  that  class  of  men 
who  from  their  previous  habits  and  modes  of  life  were 
not  only  least  likely  to  bear  well  exposure  and  priva- 


22  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

tion,  but  also  certain  to  become  victims  of  diseases 
which  have  always  proved  the  scourge  of  armies. 
Nothing  but  the  unreflecting  enthusiasm  which  was 
then  the  characteristic  of  the  popular  mind,  or  utter 
ignorance  of  the  perils  which  encompass  the  soldier  in 
the  hospital  or  the  camp,  and  which  exceed  ten-fold 
those  of  the  battle-field,  can  explain  the  recklessness 
with  which  our  best  and  bravest  young  men  were  then 
hurried  into  active  service. 

The  two  great  difficulties  which  threatened  to  make 
our  military  operations  unsuccessful,  were  the  ignorance 
ignorance  and  of  the  officers  in  regard  to  the  most  elemen- 
toe^fficers,  °  tary  duties  of  their  position,  the  absence, 
consequently,  of  all  real  military  organization  and 
discipline,  and  the  self-reliant,  independent  habits  of 
the  private  soldiers,  who,  willing  and  anxious  to  be 
instructed  in  their  new  duties,  were  not  inclined  to 
show  much  deference  to  mere  official  rank  unsupported 
by  a  corresponding  knowledge  of  the  duties  devolving 
on  him  who  held  it.  Both  of  these  difficulties  were 
traceable  to  one  source — inexperience.  Other  na 
tions,  upon  sudden  emergencies,  have  been  com 
pelled  to  form  an  army  in  the  face  of  the  enemy, 
but  they  have  had  at  least  the  skeleton  of  a  military 
organization  in  long-tried  officers,  well  versed  in  the 
details  of  the  service.  We  were  forced  to  try  the  novel 
experiment  of  improvising  the  most  artificial  and  com 
plicated  of  human  organizations — an  effective  and  dis 
ciplined  army,  under  what  had  been  hitherto  esteemed 
insurmountable  obstacles.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  those  who  judged  the  American  people  by  foreign 
precedents  felt  their  hearts  sink  within  them  at  the 


NATURE   AND   OBJECT   OF   ARMY    RELIEF.  23 

prospect.  How  this  apparently  impossible  task  was 
finally  and  successfully  accomplished,  with  what  fearful 
waste  of  life  and  energy,  and  at  what  cost  and  sacrifice, 
the  American  armies  became  at  last  thoroughly  trained 
and  perfectly  efficient  bodies,  capable  of  the  highest 
military  achievements,  how  in  certain  departments, 
such  as  the  Quartermaster's  and  Commissariat  bureaus, 
a  success  was  gained  beyond  that  recorded  of  any  similar 
service  in  military  history,  it  is  not  our  province  to  dwell 
upon.  We  are  concerned  now  with  the  dangers  which 
threatened  to  impair  the  health,  and  therefore  to  de 
stroy  the  efficiency  of  the  soldier,  dangers  all  the  more 
serious  because  neither  the  public,  who  looked  on  with 
so  much  delighted  enthusiasm  as  regiment  after  regi 
ment  was  equipped  and  sent  to  the  seat  of  war,  nor 
the  officers,  who  were  entrusted  with  the  responsibility 
of  their  precious  lives,  seemed  to  have  any  adequate 
conception  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  preventive 
measures  to  maintain  this  buoyant  energy  of  our 
young  men  ever  fresh  and  active.  Indeed  it  seemed 
as  if  the  whole  affair  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  multitude 
the  gorgeous  pageant  of  a  summer's  holiday,  and  the 
object  in  view  one  to  be  accomplished  by  a  pleasant 
excursion  of  sixty  or  ninety  days,  —  absurd  self-conceit 
shivered  into  atoms  by  the  first  actual  shock  of  real 
war. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  war  the  troops  were 
raised  by  companies  under  authority  of  the  Governor 
of  each  state,  and  were  not  transferred  to  characteristics 
the  military  authorities  of  the  United  States  " 


until  a  sufficient  number  of  companies  were  gathered 
together  to  form  a  regiment.     In  the  interval  between 


24  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

their  enlistment,  and  their  transfer  to  the  General 
Government,  the  men  were  collected  in  camps  within 
the  state,  under  its  authority  and  became  the  re 
cipients  of  its  peculiar  care.  Each  State  had  a 
Hospital  Department,  the  main  business  of  which  was 
the  selection  of  regimental  surgeons,  but  which  inci 
dentally  concerned  itself  about  the  health  of  the  sol 
diers  while  at  recruiting  depots  within  the  State.  As 
was  to  be  expected,  the  degree  of  care  bestowed  upon 
the  troops  by  these  State  Hospital  Departments  varied 
in  almost  every  State.  In  some,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  enforce  a  proper  sanitary  police,  in  others,  almost 
every  article  which  could  be  needed  by  the  Surgeon  in 
the  performance  of  his  duties  was  liberally  supplied 
by  the  State  authorities,  while  in  most,  in  consequence 
of  the  short  period  which  elapsed  between  the  time  of 
recruiting  and  that  of  the  transfer  of  the  regiment  to 
the  General  Government,  those  precautions  wrhich 
were  essential  to  the  health  of  the  soldier,  and  which, 
to  be  really  available,  should  have  been  taken  as  soon 
as  he  began  his  military  life,  were  almost  wholly 
neglected.  In  one  important  State,  where,  in  addi 
tion  to  the  constant  concentration  in  camps  of  men 
enlisted  for  the  general  service,  a  reserve  force  of 
fifteen  thousand  men  was  raised  by  the  authority  of 
the  State  for  its  own  defense,  which  was  to  be  retained 
within  its  own  borders,  no  provision  whatever  was  made 
in  the  law  creating  this  force,  that  the  Hospital  Depart 
ment  should  control  in  any  way  measures  tending  to 
the  sanitary  condition  of  the  troops,  the  character 
of  their  clothing,  the  location  of  camps,  or  the  erection 
of  quarters.  The  condition  of  things  in  this  respect 


NATURE   AND   OBJECT   OF   ARMY    RELIEF.  25 

in  Pennsylvania  had  its  parallel  in  nearly  every 
State.  A  loose  impression  prevailed  that  volunteers 
should  not  be  controlled  by  the  ordinary  methods  of 
military  discipline.  No  regular,  normal,  steady  sani 
tary  system  was  practicable,  where  in  some  respects  it 
was  most  needed.  Gross  neglect  prevailed,  therefore, 
in  the  recruiting  camps,  partly  owing  to  a  total  igno 
rance  of  sanitary  laws,  partly  to  the  feebleness  and 
defectiveness  of  the  military  organization,  and  partly 
to  the  incompetency  of  the  officers,  without  whose  intel 
ligent  and  zealous  co-operation  nothing  could  be  done. 

Thus  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  raising  for  an 
emergency  a  tolerably  efficient  army,  formidable  as 
they  are  to  all  governments,  became  ten-fold  more  so 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  which  was 
forced  in  the  hour  of  the  greatest  peril  to  adopt  and 
make  useful  such  rude  military  organizations  as  the 
different  states  chose  to  send  them, — organizations  dif 
fering  in  some  respects,  but  all  alike  in  this,  that  a 
large  portion  of  the  troops,  owing  to  imperfect  inspec 
tion,  were  unfit  for  any  military  duty  whatever,  and 
that  their  officers,  and  especially  the  staff- officers,  were 
almost  universally  without  any  knowledge  of  their 
new  duties. 

While  many  watched  with  anxiety  the  utter  neglect 
of  every  lesson  taught  by  experience  or  common  sense 
in  the  formation  of  that  army  on  whose  ef-  General  neglect 
ficiency  the  national  life  depended,  and  were  L^^^"7 
filled  with  the  gloomiest  anticipations  of  the  future, 
there  was  a  strange  blind  confidence,  a  sort  of  careless 
insouciance  in  regard  to  the  whole  matter  among  the 
mass  of  the  population.  There  was  unbounded  en- 


26  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

thusiasm  for  the  cause,  and  a  perfect  faith  in  the  pluck 
and  endurance  of  the  volunteers,  who  were  vaguely 
regarded  as  competent  for  any  task  that  might  be 
assigned  them.  If  some  skeptic,  whose  fears  had  been 
quickened  by  reading  history,  faintly  whispered  the 
necessity  of  discipline  in  the  ranks,  and  of  sanitary 
measures  in  the  camps,  in  order  to  insure  permanent 
success,  he  was  told  that  the  volunteer,  from  his  very 
condition  and  previous  habits,  could  not  be  trained  in 
the  same  severe  discipline  as  that  found  essential  in  a 
regular  army,  and  that,  after  all,  the  American  was  a 
thoroughly  self-reliant  being,  whose  native  qualities 
would  insure  his  exemption  from  those  evils  which 
had  demoralized  armies  made  up  of  different  material 
in  former  wars. 

This  strange  infatuation  pervaded  all  ranks  of  the 
Apprehensions  people,  and  as  it  seemed  a  foregone  conclu- 

felt  for  the  re-       .  ,..-,. 

8T1it,  sion  that  discipline,  such  as  that  which  ex 

isted  in  other  armies,  could  not  be  enforced  in  ours, 
of  course  little  effort  was  made  to  introduce  it  among 
the  volunteers.  The  effect  of  this  absurd  theory 
soon  became  apparent.  The  ignorance  of  the  officers 
concerning  their  duties  was  manifest  at  the  very  first 
test.  The  injury  to  the  health  of  the  troops,  and 
therefore  to  their  morale  and  efficiency,  mainly  due  to 
the  ignorance,  incompetency,  and  carelessness  of  their 
officers  on  their  arrival  at  Washington,  is  now  known 
to  have  been  absolutely  disastrous.  Experienced  mili 
tary  officers  looked  with  dismay  on  the  prospect  of 
making  an  active  campaign  with  such  troops,  while 
those  who  were  more  sanguine,  only  because  they 
were  more  ignorant,  could  not  fail  to  be  oppressed  with 


NATURE   AND    OBJECT    OF   ARMY    RELIEF.  27 

an  anxious  fear  lest  the  best  strength  of  the  nation 
should  be  uselessly  sacrificed.  But  before  the  actual 
shock  of  arms  took  place,  leading  minds  throughout 
the  country,  who  saw  most  clearly  the  deep-seated  cause 
of  the  evil,  were  thoroughly  studying  the  whole 
subject,  and  anxiously  searching  for  -a  remedy. 

At  that  time  the  experience  of  the  Crimean  war  was 
fresh  in  the  memory  of  all.  That  experience  was  a 
complete  chapter  by  itself  on  sanitary  sci-  Experience  of  the 
ence.  It  taught  the  great  truth  that  the  Crimean  war, 
"cause  of  humanity  was  identified  with  the  strength  of 
armies."  We  were  left  to  no  vague  conjecture  as  to  the 
causes  which  produced  the  fearful  mortality  among  the 
allied  troops  before  Sebastopol, — a  mortality,  which  as 
has  been  truly  said,  has  never  been  equalled  since  the 
hosts  of  Sennacherib  fell  in  a  single  night.  Public 
opinion  in  England,  indignant  and  horror-stricken  at 
this  frightful  result,  long  before  the  war  closed,  called 
loudly  for  investigation  and  remedy.  The  result  has 
been  a  contribution  of  inestimable  value  to  our  know 
ledge  of  every  thing  which  concerns  the  vital  questions 
of  the  health,  comfort,  and  efficiency  of  armies.  The 
results  of  these  investigations,  both  in  regard  to  the 
causes  of  the  evil,  and  the  wonderful  efficiency  of  the 
remedies  which  were  applied  for  its  removal,  had  been 
recently  given  to  the  world  in  parliamentary  reports,  in 
the  works  of  professional  men,  and  especially  in  the  in 
valuable  testimony  of  Miss  Nightingale,  so  that  all  the 
conditions  of  the  problem  were  perfectly  known,  and 
its  solution  could  be  arrived  at  with  the  exactness  and 
certainty  of  a  scientific  demonstration.  The  descrip 
tion  of  the  causes  which  had  produced  a  mortality  in  the 


28  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

British  army  so  fearful,  that  had  it  continued  at  the 
rate  which  was  maintained  in  January,  1855,  it  would 
in  ten  months  have  destroyed  every  man  in  it,  was  so 
accurate,  and  bore  so  wonderful  a  resemblance  to  evils 
already  known  to  exist  in  our  condition,  that  the  lesson 
seemed  prepared  specially  for  our  warning  and  benefit. 
Earnest  men  who  loved  their  country,  and  who  had 
some  humane  consideration  for  the  health  and  lives  of 
those  who  were  defending  it,  determined  that  some 
thing  should  be  done  to  avoid  a  similar  catastrophe 
here.  They  knew  that  the  British  people  had  been 
able  only  to  investigate  and  deplore  the  causes  which 
had  led  to  so  direful  a  result.  They  felt  that  here  a 
wise,  thorough,  and  persistent  effort  should  be  made  at 
the  outset  of  the  war,  guided  by  the  Crimean  experi 
ence,  to  forestal  the  insidious  march  of  those  diseases, 
which,  if  unchecked,  would  inevitably  overwhelm  our 
army  and  with  it  our  country  in  ruin. 

The  experience  of  the  Crimean  war  taught  those 
who  consulted  it  the  nature  of  the  terrible  clangers 
what  was  taught  which  encompass  all  armies  outside  of  the 
ence. &  battle-field,  the  possibility  of  mitigating 

them,  and  the  sanitary  measures,  which  in  strict  ac 
cordance  with  the  general  laws  of  health  should  be 
adopted  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  an  army.  But  it 
taught  many  other  things,  which  were  far  from  encour 
aging  to  the  zeal  of  those  who  suppose  that  the  ease 
of  applying  a  remedy  has  in  actual  practice  any  due 
relation  to  the  undisputed  magnitude  of  the  evil  to  be 
abated.  They  found,  in  the  first  place,  a  certain  inflex 
ible  military  routine  in  the  management  of  everything 
connected  with  the  administration  of  the  Medical 


NATURE    AND    OBJECT    OF    ARMY    RELIEF.  29 

Department  of  an  army,  the  preservation  of  which  in 
all  its  integrity  was  considered  as  essential  to  the 
very  existence  of  the  troops  who  might  be  per 
ishing  through  its  adherence  to  regulation  and  prece 
dent,  as  any  part  of  the  military  system.  They 
found,  too,  that  the  medical  staff,  however  much  it 
might  deplore  the  evil,  was  helpless  to  effect  a  remedy, 
for  under  the  existing  system  it  had  no  power  to 
initiate,  order  and  execute  sanitary  works.  While  the 
evidence  was  overwhelming  that  the  plainest  teachings 
of  modern  science  had  been  neglected,  not  only  in  the 
construction  of  hospitals,  but  in  the  adoption  of  suit 
able  precautionary  measures  to  insure  the  health  and 
comfort  of  the  soldier  in  camp,  it  was  also  evident  that 
the  natural  jealousy  which  is  the  result  of  a  certain 
esprit  de  corps  in  any  thoroughly  organized  adminis 
trative  body,  always  manifests  itself  with  a  most  deter 
mined  spirit  against  any  plans  which  seek  to  infuse 
new  life  into  that  body  even  through  the  regular 
channels,  and  especially  against  any  extra  official  effort 
to  render  its  machinery  less  cumbrous  and  more 
efficient.  While  the  experience  of  the  Crimea,  there 
fore,  clearly  proved  the  cause  of  the  evil  and  the 
nature  of  the  remedy,  it  no  less  clearly  proved  the 
practical  difficulty  of  applying  that  remedy  outside 
and  independent  of  government  agencies,  and  the 
almost  insurmountable  obstacles  of  transferring  to  such 
agencies  a  portion  of  that  zeal  and  enthusiasm  for  the 
welfare  of  the  soldier  which  in  modern  times,  at  least, 
to  the  credit  of  the  civilization  of  the  age  let  it  be 
said,  is  the  strongest  and  most  characteristic  impulse 
of  the  peoule  towards  an  army  which  is  fighting  its 


30  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

battles.  Still  the  success  of  Miss  Nightingale's  efforts 
in  the  hospitals  at  Scutari,  and  the  astonishing  results 
which  were  produced  in  the  improvement  of  the  health 
of  the  troops,  by  the  adoption  of  the  measures  recom 
mended  and  enforced  by  the  Government  Sanitary 
Commission  which  was  sent  out  to  the  Crimea  in 
April,  1855,  led  those  to  persevere  who  clearly  saw  the 
nature  of  the  difficult  task  before  them.  Thus  en 
couraged  they  sought  to  initiate  some  methods  which 
should  anticipate  and  guard  against,  and  not  follow, 
as  in  the  Crimea,  the  fearful  havoc  caused  by  the  ne 
glect  of  sanitary  laws. 

The  importance,  therefore,  of  rousing  public  opinion 
to  the  absolute  necessity  of  forcing  upon  the  govern- 
The  influence  of  ment  the  adoption  of  precautionary  mea- 

sucn  teachings 

in  favor  of  simi-  sures  to  insure  the  lives  and  safety  of  our 

lar  measures,  •  .-,  -,  ,     .       , 

here  troops  in  camps,  in  barracks  and  in  hospi 

tals,  was  the  practical  lesson  which  was  taught  by  the 
Crimean  experience  to  those  who  had  studied  it  with  a 
view  of  rendering  it  applicable  to  our  needs.  Some 
of  these  ear  nest -minded  men  became  afterwards  active 
members  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission, 
but  that  organization  bore  no  resemblance  whatever, 
except  in  name,  to  the  body  which  was  sent  out  by  the 
British  Government  in  April,  1855.  The  latter  was 
invested  with  plenary  powers  to  do  anything  and 
everything  which  could  improve  the  sanitary  condition 
of  the  troops,  whether  in  the  camps  or  the  hospitals. 
It  will  appear  hereafter  that  our  Sanitary  Commission 
in  its  organization,  methods,  operations  and  results 
was  wholly  original,  and  peculiarly  American  in  its 
characteristics.  The  occasion  of  its  existence  was  un- 


NATURE   AND   OBJECT   OF   ARMY   RELIEF.  31 

questionably  an  emergency  which  might  prove  and 
did  prove  in  many  respects  similar  to  that  which  oc 
curred  in  the  Crimean  war,  but  that  war  only  taught 
the  necessity  of  precautionary  measures,  and  shed  no 
light  whatever  upon  the  practical  question  how  far  it 
was  possible  to  adapt  those  measures  to  our  American 
system.  Indeed,  it  will  be  seen  as  we  proceed,  how  our 
peculiar  condition  and  circumstances  embarrassed  the 
action  of  those  among  us,  who  sought  to  base  the  care 
of  our  army  upon  a  system  deduced  from  the  positive 
results  of  experience.  It  will  perhaps  be  found  that  it 
was  almost  as  difficult  to  make  our  Government  be 
lieve  in  the  necessity  of  taking  such  precautionary 
measures,  as  it  became  afterwards  to  convince  those 
whose  immediate  duty  it  was  to  enforce  them,  that  sup 
plemental  aid,  and  the  advice  of  an  unofficial  organiza 
tion  might  be  so  given  as  not  to  impair  military 
efficiency  and  discipline. 

The  powers  conferred  on  the  British  Sanitary  Com 
mission  were  wholly  unexampled  in  the  history  of 
the  administrative  system  of  Great  Britain.  The  re 
sults  of  its  labors  have  been  on  the  whole,  The  functions  of 
perhaps,  the  grandest  contribution  ever  made  *  ^.^  n  * L1  ^ 
by  science  to  the  practical  art  of  preserving  mission, 
health  among  men  required  to  live  together  in  large 
masses.  Its  existence  was  due,  as  we  have  said,  to  the 
horror  which  was  inspired  by  the  accounts  of  the  per 
ishing  army  before  Sebastopol,  and  to  the  wide-spread 
conviction  that  this  result  was  attributable  to  causes 
which  might  be  removed  by  wise  sanitary  measures. 
Three  gentlemen,  each  distinguished  for  his  practical 
acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  hygiene  and  the  prin- 


32  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY   COMMISSION. 

ciples  of  sanitary  science,  Dr.  Sutherland,  Dr.  Milroy, 
and  Mr.  Rawlinson,  were  appointed  in  February,  1855, 
by  the  Minister  of  War,  Lord  Panmure,  Commissioners, 
to  proceed  at  once  to  the  Crimea,  and  there,  on  the  spot, 
to  reform  the  abuses  to  which  the  evil  was  due.  They 
were  told  expressly  in  the  letter  which  announced  their 
appointment  and  defined  their  duties,  that  in  the  pro 
secution  of  their  labors  they  were  not  to  be  content 
with  merely  issuing  an  order,  but  that  "  they  should 
see  instantly  that  the  work  they  ordered  was  com 
menced,  and  superintend  it  day  by  day  until  it  was 
finished.  They  were  further  directed  to  use  all  dili 
gence  in  ascertaining  whether  any  and  what  removable 
causes  of  disease  connected  with  the  camps  and  hospi 
tals  existed,  to  represent  such  defects  to  the  military 
and  naval  authorities,  to  issue  instructions  for  their 
removal,  and  to  see  that  their  instructions  were  complied 
with"  Thus  it  will  be  seen,  that  in  all  matters  within 
the  scope  of  their  instructions,  they  were  supreme, 
over-riding  all  considerations  of  rank,  and  introducing 
for  the  first  time  into  the  English  system  the  practical 
heresy  of  breaking  through  all  the  solemn  formalities  of 
regulation,  precedent,  and  red  tape,  upon  the  strict  ob 
servance  of  which  the  safety  of  the  country,  to  the  mind 
trained  in  official  habits,  absolutely  depends.  The  re 
sult  justified  this  extraordinary,  almost  revolutionary, 
departure  from  the  ordinary  methods  of  administration ; 
the  rescue  of  thousands  from  impending  death  will  be 
its  justification  in  history,  while  perhaps  the  stoutest 
defender  of  routine  and  precedent  will  now  admit  that 
this  was  one  of  the  emergencies  of  that  necessity  which 
knows  no  law.  No  such  extraordinary  powers  as  were 


NATURE   AND   OBJECT   OF   ARMY    RELIEF.  33 

conferred  upon  these  Commissioners,  and  fully  exercised 
by  them  when  it  was  necessary  to  accomplish  their 
object,  were  ever  granted  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  any  body  of  men  outside  of  the  regular 
military  organization ;  but,  perhaps,  many  will  recall 
periods  during  the  war  when  such  a  despotic  authority 
wisely  exercised  by  such  a  Commission  as  that  sent  to 
the  Crimea,  would  have  saved  thousands  of  lives  to 
the  country  and  millions  of  dollars  to  its  treasury. 

During  the  months  of  May  and  June,  1861,  regi 
ment  after  regiment  arrived  at  the  National  Capital  in 
a  most  unsatisfactory  condition,  so  far  as  condition  of  the 
concerned  their  real  efficiency  as  soldiers.  5esiment.s  on 

*  tneir  arrival  at 

These  regiments  had  made  their  journey  in  Washington, 
cattle  cars,  as  crowded  and  as  ill-provided  as  if  they 
were  carrying  beasts  to  the  shambles;  while  most 
of  them  were  utterly  unprovided  with  any  means 
of  relief  for  those  of  their  number  who  had  become 
ill  or  exhausted  from  their  long  exposure.  On 
arriving,  no  preparations  had  been  made  for  their  re 
ception.  Men  stood  for  hours  in  the  broiling  sun  or 
drenching  rain,  waiting  in  vain  for  rations  and  shelter, 
while  their  ignorant  and  inexperienced  Commissaries 
and  Quartermasters  were  slowly  and  painfully  learn 
ing  the  duties  of  their  positions.  At  last,  utterly 
worn  out  and  disgusted,  they  reached  their  camps, 
where  they  received  rations  as  unwholesome  as  dis 
tasteful  to  them,  and  endeavored  to  recruit  their 
wasted  energies  while  lying  upon  rotten  straw, 
wrapped  in  a  shoddy  blanket.  The  reality  of  all  this 
fearful  misery  in  such  striking  contrast  with  the  gay 
and  cheerful  scenes  which  they  had  just  left,  soon 


34  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

taught  the  soldier,  who  was  in  earnest,  that  true 
military  discipline  was  not  only  essential  to  his 
efficiency  but  to  his  safety,  and  indeed  to  his  very 
existence,  as  part  of  this  vast  human  machine.  With 
the  more  reflecting  in  many  regiments,  who  were  the 
smaller  portion,  an  attempt  was  made  to  uphold  it, 
while  with  the  many,  the  irritation  and  annoyance 
constantly  suffered,  through  the  incapacity  of  their 
officers,  engendered  a  dangerous  spirit  of  mutiny. 
On  all  hands  there  was  utter  distrust  in  the  organiza 
tion,  which  not  only  cooled  perceptibly  their  early  en 
thusiasm  for  the  National  cause,  but  which  soon  showed 
itself  in  the  alarming  prevalence  of  certain  diseases, 
well-known  in  camps,  which  led  officers  of  experience 
in  the  regular  army  to  predict  that  fifty  per  cent,  of  the 
volunteers,  before  the  end  of  the  summer,  would  fall 
victims  to  diseases  entirely  preventible  by  wise  mea 
sures  of  precaution  rigidly  enforced. 

We  shall  recur  again,  more  in  detail,  to  the  actual 
sanitary  condition  of  the  army  before  its  advance  into 
America*  me-  Virginia.  We  refer  to  it  now  merely  to 
thod  of  remedy-  S}10W  what  a  just  cause  of  alarm  for  its 

ing  great  public  .  „ 

evils.  safety  existed  at  that  time.     JNo   lover   ot 

his  country,  and  no  friend  of  humanity  could  fail  to* 
appreciate  the  reality  of  the  danger.  It  is  one  of 
the  fortunate  peculiarities  in  our  American  life  that 
when  great  evils  force  themselves  upon  the  pub 
lic  attention  as  requiring  immediate  and  practical 
remedy,  earnest  and  thoughtful  men  are  to  be  found 
who  generally,  by  means  of  some  formal  organization, 
determine,  with  more  or  less  force,  to  grapple  with 
them.  These  attempts  are  often  very  crude  and 


NATURE   AND   OBJECT   OF   ARMY   RELIEF.  35 

unsatisfactory  in  their  origin,  but  they  gain  in  strength 
and  practical  value  as  experience  is  acquired,  and 
although  many  blunders  are  made,  yet  to  such  organi 
zations  is  undoubtedly  due  nearly  all  that  is  grand, 
comprehensive,  and  far-reaching  in  conception,  and 
successful  in  practice,  in  our  American  life.  The 
nature  of  the  crisis  was  so  serious,  and  the  principle 
by  which  any  remedy  could  be  applied  by  a  scheme 
of  voluntary  organization  so  difficult  of  determination, 
that  those  who  felt  the  evils  most  deeply,  hesitated 
longest,  for  fear  of  making  confusion  worse  confounded 
by  any  interference  with  government  measures,  how 
ever  defective  they  might  be.  But  at  last  the  fearful 
risks  to  the  health  and  safety  of  the  army,  and  the 
importance  of  the  vast  interests  dependent  upon  its 
efficiency,  gave  rise  to  earnest,  energetic  measures. 
The  evils  themselves  were  so  glaring,  the  danger  from 
them  to  the  health  and  efficiency  of  the  army  so 
imminent,  and  the  Government  apparently  so  helpless 
to  provide  an  adequate  remedy,  that  it  was  determined 
by  some  enlightened  men,  most  of  whom  had  been 
taught  by  their  profession  the  value  of  preventive 
hygienic  measures,  to  try  the  experiment  of  infusing 
some  of  the  popular  enthusiasm  and  popular  sym 
pathy  into  the  cumbrous  machinery  of  Government. 
This  was  to  be  done  not  irregularly  or  in  the  way  of 
embarrassing  intervention  but  strictly  in  aid  of  the 
Government  plans,  as  far  as  possible,  through  Govern 
ment  means,  and  wholly  in  subordination  to  the  great 
objects  which  the  Government  had  in  view  in  prose 
cuting  the  war.  This  was  the  germ,  the  original  con 
ception  of  the  functions  of  a  Sanitary  Commission, 


36  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

but  we  are  yet  far  removed  from  the  fully  developed 
maturity  and  power  which  this  idea  acquired. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  intended  to  assert  that  this 
was  the  first  attempt  made  by  means  of  a  voluntary 
Preventive  mea-  organization,  to  aid  the  acknowledged  help- 
sures  suggested,  lessness  of  the  Government  in  bestowing 
that  care  upon  the  army  which  public  opinion 
demanded.  As  we  have  said,  the  desire  to  aid  and 
comfort  the  soldier  was  coeval  with  his  entry  into  the 
Government  service,  and  this  desire  was  manifested 
in  providing  for  him  such  extra  comforts  as  the 
anxious  care  of  his  wife,  or  mother,  or  sister  could 
suggest.  But  while  giving  full  credit  of  praise  to 
these  spontaneous  and  self-sacrificing  efforts  to  pour 
the  riches  of  home  comforts  into  the  camps  of  the 
soldiers,  those  who  examined  the  subject  more  closely 
were  satisfied  that  the  object  all  had  in  view  was  not 
to  be  gained  by  measures  such  as  these.  They  thought 
they  had  discovered  the  root  of  the  evil  in  the  want 
of  an  effective  organization  of  nearly  all  the  measures 
of  the  Government  concerning  the  health  and  comfort 
of  the  soldier.  They  were  not  disposed  to  supplant  the 
Government  as  the  proper  and  most  efficient  care 
taker  of  the  army,  but  simply  so  to  mould  the  popular 
will  that  it  should  aid,  encourage,  and  uphold  what 
ever  was  undertaken  by  the  Government  in  the  direc 
tion  of  humane  and  careful  guardianship  of  the  soldier. 
The  whole  history  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  which, 
from  the  beginning,  has  had  for  its  main  design  a  pre 
ventive  service,  has  been  completely  intertwined  with 
that  of  relief  afforded  to  the  soldier;  but  at  the  outset 
the  intention  was  not  to  concern  itself  with  supplying 


NATURE   AND    OBJECT   OF   ARMY   RELIEF.  37 

other  wants  of  the  soldier  than  those  which,  on 
inquiry,  should  turn  out  to  be  real,  and  then  to  urge 
upon  the  Government,  acting  through  its  appropriate 
channels,  the  adoption  of  a  suitable  remedy.  To  those 
who  had  made  a  careful  survey  of  the  whole  field, 
guided  by  the  light  which  the  experience  of  other 
countries  afforded  them,  a  general  system  of  relief, 
based  upon  some  such  theory  as  this,  seemed  the  only 
one  which  could  be  of  practical  value  to  the  vast 
armies  which  it  soon  became  evident  would  be  called 
into  actual  service. 

This  idea  or  theory  was  as  yet,  however,  in  embryo 
only,  in  the  minds  of  certain  thinking  men.  Into  the 
untried  future,  with  all  its  fearful  dangers,  Dangers  of  «- 
they  hesitated  to  cast  what  might  prove  in  ^mSta!, 
practice,  an  additional  element  of  confusion  and  em- 
barassment  to  an  already  sorely-pressed  Government. 
With  a  perfect  conviction  of  the  scientific  truth  of 
their  theory  they  waited  until  the  way  seemed  clear  for 
its  successful  application.  The  principle  of  outside  in 
terference  was  already  recognized,  indeed  its  influence 
seemed  inevitable  in  a  war  conducted  in  modern  times, 
in  which,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  characteristic  is 
the  increased  respect  professed  for  humanity.  It 
being  therefore  settled  that  in  some  way  in  this  war, 
popular  extra-governmental  measures  for  the  relief  of 
the  needs,  real  or  supposed,  of  the  soldier  were  certain 
to  be  adopted,  one  great  difficulty  was  removed  from 
the  minds  of  those  who,  from  their  very  zeal  for  the 
success  of  the  cai\se,  had  hesitated  to  interfere  in  any 
way  with  the  Government  measures,  defective  and 


38  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

imperfect  as  they  seemed.  Such  men  now  thought  it 
their  duty  to  attempt  to  direct,  control,  and  organize 
the  excited  benevolence  of  the  country  towards  the 
army,  upon  some  principle  which  would  promise  suc 
cess  in  solving  the  very  difficult  problem  which  was 
now  before  it. 


CHAPTER  II. 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  THEOKY  OF  A  PKEVENTIVE  SEE  VICE. 

THE  earliest  movement  that  was  made  for  army 
relief  was  begun,  as  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  by 
the  women  of  the  country.  It  was  most  The  first  relief 
natural  that  their  tender  care  and  anxiety  ^ementmad« 

*     by  the  women  of 

for  friends  who  had  gone  forth  to  scenes  the  country, 
of  danger  should  manifest  itself  by  an  attempt  to 
provide  them  with  home  comforts,  and,  as  far  as  pos 
sible,  to  maintain  a  home  influence  upon  them.  On 
the  15th  of  April,  1861,  the  day  on  which  the  Presi 
dent's  call  for  troops  appeared,  the  women  of  Bridge 
port,  in  Connecticut,  organized  a  society  with  the 
somewhat  vague  idea  of  affording  relief  and  comfort 
to  the  volunteers.  In  Charlestown  on  the  same  day, 
and  at  Lowell  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  women  of 
those  cities  formed  societies,  having  the  same  general 
object  in  view.  It  is  worth  while  to  look  at  the  end  pro 
posed  by  the  women  at  the  last  named  place,  in  order 
to  show  what  strange  notions  prevailed  at  that  time 
in  the  most  enlightened  communities,  as  to  the  charac 
ter  of  the  measures  which  might  be  adopted  outside 
the  Government  for  the  benefit  of  the  soldier.  They 
proposed  to  supply  nurses  for  the  sick  and  wounded, 
and  to  bring  them  home  when  practicable,  to  purchase 


39 


40  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

clothing,  provisions,  and  matters  of  comfort  not  sup 
plied  by  Government  regulations,  to  send  books  and 
newspapers  to  the  camps,  to  preserve  a  record  of  the 
services  of  each  soldier,  and  to  hold  constant  commu 
nication  with  the  officers  of  the  regiments,  in  order 
that  they  might  be  kept  informed  of  the  condition  of 
their  friends.  This  is,  indeed,  a  formidable  list  of 
objects  to  be  attained,  and  it  is  now  obvious  that  it 
was  put  forth  rather  as  a  mode  of  supplying  the 
supposed  immediate  wants  of  men,  who  had  gone 
forth  from  a  particular  locality,  than  as  a  part  of  a 
general  system  applicable  to  the  whole  army.  On  the 
19th  of  April,  the  ladies  of  Cleveland  organized  a 
society,  the  object  of  which  was  the  care  of  the 
families  of  volunteers.  Here,  as  the  ground  of 
benevolent  action  was  an  old  and  very  well-trodden 
one,  and  as  the  objects  of  their  care  were  wholly 
within  their  own  oversight,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
speak  of  it  now  as  the  commencement  of  an  organiza 
tion  which  some  time  afterwards  adopted  the  system 
and  methods  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  became 
one  of  its  most  efficient  auxiliaries. 

The  history  of  the  Women's  Central  Relief  Asso 
ciation,  of  New  York,  as  the  first  body  in  which  the 
Women's  Gen-  principles,  which  were  afterwards  fully  de- 
ciatifn^oflfew  vel°Pe^  *n  the  Sanitary  Commission,  took 
York,  form  and  shape,  is  on  that  account  well 

worth  study. 

In  one  of  the  last  days  of  April,  1861,  two  men 
accidentally  met  in  the  street  in  New  York,  the  one 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  afterwards  the  honored  Presi 
dent  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  the  early  founder 


THEORY   OF   A    PREVENTIVE    SERVICE.  41 

of  its  policy,  and  its  successful  champion  and  guide 
through  all  the  difficulties  which  beset  its  operations 
during  the  war;  the  other,  Dr.  Elisha  Harris,  afterwards 
one  of  its  most  laborious,  intelligent,  and  zealous  mem 
bers.  Their  minds  were  pre-occupied,  as  were  those  of 
all  thoughtful  men  at  that  time,  with  the  alarming  con 
dition  of  the  country,  and  with  the  necessity  of  making 
some  great  exertion  to  prevent  the  spread  of  those 
evils  which  threatened  to  impair  the  health  and 
efficiency  of  the  army  which  was  then  gathering 
in  all  quarters.  They  were  induced  to  attend  a  meet 
ing,  which  had  been  called  at  the  "  Infirmary  for 
Women,"  with  the  view  of  devising  some  means  of 
contributing  to  that  object.  They  found  there  a  num 
ber  of  ladies,  full  of  zeal  and  enthusiasm  in  the  cause, 
most  desirous  of  information  as  to  the  best  mode  of 
making  themselves  useful,  but  very  much  divided  in 
opinion  as  to  the  best  means  which  they  should  adopt, 
and  with  a  very  imperfect  idea  of  organization.  It 
was  suggested,  after  some  consultation,  that  an  asso 
ciation,  upon  a  wider  basis,  embracing  the  churches, 
schools,  and  all  societies  of  women  in  the  city,  already 
engaged  in  any  way  in  the  work  of  relief  to  the  army, 
should  be  attempted,  and  it  was  decided  to  call  a 
general  meeting,  to  be  held  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  to 
perfect  this  plan.  The  invitation  or  call  for  this  meet 
ing,  which  was  prepared  by  Dr.  Bellows,  and  which  is 
somewhat  remarkable  as  containing  the  first  public 
announcement  of  principles  of  relief  which  afterwards 
became  familiar  from  their  practical  application  by 
the  Sanitary  Commission,  was  signed  by  ninety-two 


42  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

of  the  best  known  and  most  influential  ladies  in  New 
York.* 

On  the  appointed  day,  the  great  Hall  of  the  Institute 
was  crowded  with  an  earnest,  enthusiastic,  and  patriotic 
First  public  assembly  of  women.  MR.  D.  D.  FIELD  pre- 
meeting  for  jd  d  t  ^  meeting,  and  addresses,  filled 

army  relief  in 

New  York,  with  practical  suggestions  as  to  the  duty  of 
women  in  the  emergency,  and  as  to  the  modes  by  which 
they  might  contribute  to  the  comfort  and  health  of 
the  army,  were  made  by  the  late  venerable  Doctor 
Mott,  Doctor  Alex.  H.  Stevens,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Be- 
thune,  and  others.  The  light  which  we  have  now 
gained  from  the  experience  of  the  war,  could  not,  of 
course,  then  guide  the  counsels  of  those  who  were 
thus  earnestly  striving  to  do  their  whole  duty  in  this 
matter,  but  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  con 
stitution  adopted  by  the  Society,  then  organized,  in 
the  earliest  days  of  the  war,  embodied  many  of  the 
principles,  the  practical  value  of  which  that  experience 
has  only  confirmed  and  established.  This  constitution 
had  been  prepared  by  Doctor  Bellows ;  it  was  adopted 
by  the  meeting,  and  the  "Women's  Central  Associa 
tion  of  Relief,"  which  afterwards  occupied  so  con 
spicuous  a  position  as  one  of  the  great  feeding  tribu 
taries  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  was  organized 
under  it.  After  announcing  that  the  women  of  New 
York  had  associated  themselves  together  with  the 
view  of  furnishing  comforts,  stores,  and  nurses  in  aid 
of  the  Medical  Staff,  and  that  they  were  desirous  of 
organizing  for  such  purpose  the  scattered  efforts  of 
the  women  of  the  country,  it  declares  that  in  accom- 

*  Appendix,  No.  1. 


THEORY   OF   A   PREVENTIVE    SERVICE.  43 

plishing  this  object  "they  will  collect  and  disseminate 
information  upon  the  actual  and  prospective  wants  of 
the  army;  establish  recognized  relations  with  the 
Medical  Staff,  and  act  as  auxiliary  to  it;  that  they  will 
maintain  a  central  depot  of  stores,  and  open  a  bureau 
for  the  examination  and  registration  of  nurses." 

The  Society  thus  organized,  the  first  step,  of  course, 
was  to  obtain  information  as  to  such  actual  and  proba 
ble  future  wants  of  the  army  as  could  be  in  any  way 
met  by  the  modes  proposed.  Application  was  at  once 
made  by  Dr.  Bellows,  on  behalf  of  the  As-  DT,  Bellows' in- 
sociation,  at  the  head-quarters  of  the  Medi-  J2£^ 
cal  Department  of  the  army  in  New  York,  cai  Purveyor, 
at  that  time  in  charge  of  an  old  and  experienced 
officer,  Surgeon  Satterlee,  as  Medical  Purveyor.  It  soon 
became  apparent  that  this  scheme  of  outside  and  sup 
plemental  aid  to  the  troops  was  not  likely  to  be  looked 
upon  with  much  favor  in  official  quarters.  Whether 
it  was  due  to  that  uniform  jealousy  which  is  perhaps 
naturally  excited  by  an  attempt  to  interfere  wdth  the 
performance  of  official  duty  by  irresponsible  methods, 
even  where  those  methods  claim  only  a  very  subordi 
nate  share  of  control,  or  even  where  they  are  humbly 
offered  in  aid  of  the  work,  without  the  slightest  inten 
tion  of  unkind  criticism, — whether  this  general  motive 
had  a  controlling  influence,  or  whether  the  whole  pro 
ject  was  looked  upon  as  a  wild  scheme,  due  to  the 
influence  of  the  general  excitement  that  was  then 
pervading  all  classes  in  regard  to  the  war,  certain  it  is,  ,. 
that  in  the  opinion  of  the  representative  of  the  Medi 
cal  Bureau,  the  plans  proposed  by  the  women  could 
prove  of  no  practical  value  whatever  to  the  army. 


44  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  delegate  of  the  Association  had  prepared  certain 
queries  and  suggestions  concerning  the  possible  wants 
of  the  troops,  which  the  Government  either  might  not, 
or  would  not  meet.  These  he  submitted  to  Dr.  Sat- 
terlee  in  order  to  show  the  earnestness  of  purpose,  and 
the  defmiteness  of  the  aim  of  those  who  sent  him. 
He  found  that  there  was  little  prospect  of  that  sort  of 
co-operation  which  he  had  thought  possible  or  desira 
ble.  Indeed,  in  this  first  interview  between  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  organized  voluntary  benevolence  of 
the  country,  and  that  of  the  official  authority,  it  was 
manifest  that  the  officers  of  the  Medical  Staff  thought 
the  zeal  of  the  women  and  the  activity  of  the  men  as 
sisting  them,  superfluous,  obtrusive,  and  likely  to  grow 
troublesome,  and  that  the  sphere  of  the  public  in  the 
work  of  aiding  and  relieving  the  army  was  predes 
tined  to  be  a  very  small  one.  "To  humor  a  temporary 
excitement  was  about  all  the  interest  the  officials  in 
New  York  exhibited  in  the  movement;  to  render  it 
harmless  by  guiding  it  into  a  speedy  nothingness  was 
their  apparent  policy." 

At  the  same  time,  the  statements  made  by  Surgeon 
Satterlee  to  Dr.  Bellows,  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the 

Effect  of  state-  preparation  made  by  the  Medical  Depart 
ments  made  by  J 

Dr.  Satterlee,  ment  to  meet  the  emergency,  and  his  evi 
dently  wholly  sincere  convictions  of  the  useless- 
ness  and  folly  of  outside  interference  with  its  opera 
tions,  could  not  fail  to  make  a  deep  impression 
upon  a  mind  like  his,  trained  to  regard  with  much 
respect  the  opinions  of  those  who  spoke  of  their  own 
specialty  with  the  authority  of  a  long  tried  experience. 
He  felt  it  his  duty  to  state,  publicly,  the  results  of  his 


THEORY   OF   A    PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  45 

interview  with  Dr.  Satterlee,  and  to  express  his  con 
viction  that  the  efforts  being  made  by  the  women 
were  ill-advised  and  uncalled  for.  The  zeal  of  his 
constituents  was  not  cooled  by  this  result.  They  were 
disposed  to  attribute  the  rebuff  which  they  had  re 
ceived  to  the  bureaucratic  spirit  of  the  Medical  De 
partment,  and  at  any  rate  to  seek  fuller  and  more 
satisfactory  information  upon  the  general  subject  at 
Washington. 

Meanwhile  "the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the 
Hospitals  of  New  York,"  and  "the  New  York  Medi 
cal  Association  for  furnishing  Hospital  Sup-  Movement  of 
plies,"  had  held  various  meetings,  and  the  J^Sltaft 
last  named  body  had  opened  a  depot  for  lint,  New  York, 
bandages,  etc.  The  great  "Lint  Question"  was  then 
exercising  the  public  mind,  and  was  actively  discussed. 
Nothing  can  better  illustrate  the  utter  vagueness  and 
confusion  of  ideas  which  then  prevailed  as  to  what 
was  necessary  to  be  done  for  the  army,  than  the 
strange  interest  which  was  excited  even  among  pro 
fessional  men,  in  regard  to  what  the  war  has  proved 
was  one  of  the  most  insignificant  items  of  relief. 
Still  at  that  time  it  was  the  absorbing  topic.  What 
is  the  best  material  for  lint?  how  is  it  best  scraped 
and  prepared?  by  what  means  can  it  be  best  gathered 
in  the  largest  quantities?  These  were  the  questions 
which,  for  a  time,  engaged  the  attention  of  those  who 
aspired  to  the  high  office  of  doing  something  to 
preserve  the  lives,  and  promote  the  health  of  those  who 
had  gone  into  the  field.  Another  question,  much  dis 
cussed  at  that  time,  both  by  the  "Women's  Central," 
and  by  the  "Association  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons," 


46  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION 

was  the  selection  and  training  of  suitable  nurses  for 
Military  Hospitals.  Extensive  arrangements  were 
made  to  provide  a  corps  of  specially  qualified  persons 
who  should  perform  those  duties  to  the  sick  and 
wounded,  which  army  regulation  and  usage  had  here 
tofore  assigned  to  soldiers  detailed  for  that  purpose. 
For  some  reason,  not  very  apparent,  this  branch  of 
volunteer  relief  occupied  a  very  subordinate  place  in 
the  medical  history  of  the  war. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  real  difficulty  lay 
far  deeper  than  the  settlement  of  the  "Lint  Question," 
or  the  employment  of  suitable  nurses,  could  reach, 
and  it  was  determined  by  the  various  Associations, 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  to  send  delegates  to  Wash- 
Delegation  sent  ington  in  order  to  learn  definitively,  at  head- 
to  Washington,  quarters,  in  what  way,  if  at  all,  the  volun 
tary  offerings  of  the  people  could  be  best  made 
available  for  the  relief  of  the  army.  Accordingly, 
Dr.  Van  Buren,  representing  "the  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,"  Dr.  Jacob  Harsen,  since  deceased,  (an 
excellent  and  public-spirited  man,)  "the  Lint  and 
Bandage  Association,"  and  Dr.  Bellows  and  Dr. 
Harris  the  "Women's  Central,"  went  to  Washington 
on  this  errand  of  investigation.  They  reached  there  on 
the  16th  of  May.  They  found  everything  in  the 
greatest  confusion.  Direct  communication  between 
the  capital  and  the  North  had  been  re-established  only 
on  that  day,  since  the  19th  of  April.  Troops  were 
slowly  gathering,  but  it  was  evident  that  no  adequate 
preparations  had  been  made  for  their  reception,  or 
suitable  care.  The  Departments  were  overworked, 
new  duties  and  new  labors,  tasked  to  the  utmost,  the 


THEORY    OF   A   PREVENTIVE    SERVICE.  47 

strength  and  capacity  of  all  in  official  employ.  The 
Government,  as  far  as  could  be  seen  at  the  first  glance, 
was  pursuing  that  "tentative  policy"  which  was  so 
long  its  characteristic  during  the  war,  not  only  in 
regard  to  matters  of  general  concern,  but  in  regard  to 
measures  of  reform,  which  the  new  condition  of  things 
called  for  in  almost  every  detail  of  administration. 
There  was  no  end  to  the  advice  and  suggestion  which 
it  was  receiving  from  all  quarters,  and  upon  all  sub 
jects,  recommending  the  most  radical  and  even  revolu 
tionary  changes  of  the  whole  system,  in  order  to 
meet  the  emergency. 

Amidst  this  motley  crowd  of  well-meaning  but 
troublesome  counsellors,  the  New  York  delegation  was 
forced  to  make  its  way,  supported  only  by  Condition  of 

J'         •  :       J     things  at  Wash- 

the  earnest  conviction  that  the  business  ington, 
which  had  brought  it  to  Washington  was  one  of  the 
most  important  which  could  then  engage  the  attention 
of  the  Government.  Its  members  were,  from  the  be 
ginning,  regarded  as  theorists,  possibly  with  very  good, 
but  certainly  with  very  impracticable  ideas,  which,  if 
adopted,  would  tend  to  derange  the  whole  Government 
machinery.  The  kind  and  courteous  hearing  accorded 
to  them  by  the  military  authorities  was  due,  probably, 
far  more  to  their  personal  character,  and  the  position 
they  held  in  the  community  they  represented,  than  to  the 
smallest  confidence  in  the  schemes  they  had  to  propose. 
Their  first  visit  was  to  General  Scott,  on  whom  they 
desired  to  impress  the  importance  of  a  thorough  re- 
inspection  of  the  army,  in  order  to  eliminate  interview  with 
from  it  those  diseased  men  and  mere  boys, 
wholly  unfit  for  military  service,  who  had,  tr°°Ps- 


48  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

through  the   carelessness  of   the  original    mustering 
officers,   been   enrolled  in  the  ranks.     This  measure 
seemed  indispensably  necessary,   for   without   it   the 
army   would   have   been   encumbered,  before   it  had 
marched  ten  miles,  with  a  mass  of  helpless  men,  who 
would  have   wholly  interfered   with   its   movements. 
The  order  was  issued  at  once,  and  its  necessity  was 
fully  justified  by  the  result  of  the  inspection.     It  had 
not  proceeded  far,  however,  when  it  became  evident 
that  if  the  army  was  reduced  in  number  to  the  point 
which  a  rigid  system  of  inspection  would  warrant,  the 
large  proportion  disbanded  would  produce  the  utmost 
consternation  and  alarm  in  the  country.     As  this  was 
a  result  to  be  avoided  at  all  hazards,  much  of  the  bad 
material  was  retained,  and  contributed,  doubtless,  to  the 
demoralization   of   the   army   some   time   afterwards. 
By   this   order,   the   first   of   a   series   of   preventive 
measures,  which   were   adopted   by   what   afterwards 
became  the  Sanitary  Commission,  was  inaugurated. 

The  next  interview  of  the  delegation  was  with  the 
head  of  the  Medical  Bureau,  at  that  time  Acting 
interview  with  Surgeon-General  Wood.  As  the  verv  fact 

the  Acting  Sur-  * 

geon-Generai,  of  their  mission  implied  a  belief  on  their 
part,  and  upon  that  of  those  they  represented,  of 
the  existence  of  grave  defects  in  the  organization 
and  administration  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
army,  they  felt  it  necessary  to  exercise  the  utmost 
tact,  prudence,  and  skill  in  their  efforts  to  convince 
the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  that  a  system  which  had 
worked  well  hitherto  in  a  small  army  would  neces 
sarily  require  great  modification  to  enable  it  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  vast  masses  which  would  now 


THEORY    OF   A    PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  49 

be  thrown  upon  its  care.  They  found  Dr.  Wood  very 
courteous,  and  very  willing  to  listen  to  practical  sug 
gestions.  Some  of  these  were  made  by  Dr.  Van 
Buren,  one  of  the  delegates,  who  spoke  with  the 
authority  of  a  great  professional  reputation,  and  who 
referred  to  the  experience  he  had  gained  during  a  ser 
vice  of  five  years  on  the  Medical  Staff.  Still  they 
found  the  Acting  Surgeon- General  indisposed  to  take 
those  large  and  generous  views  of  the  necessities  of 
the  case  which  the  situation  in  their  opinion  de 
manded.  It  was  clear  that  the  present  war,  in  his 
view,  as  far  as  the  demands  on  the  Bureau  were  con 
cerned,  was  only  the  Florida  or  the  Mexican  war  on 
a  large  scale,  and  that  the  existing  machinery  was 
capable  of  such  expansion  as  fully  to  provide  for 
every  possible  contingency.  The  Bureau  was  a  well- 
organized,  thoroughly-tried,  and  hitherto  wholly  suc 
cessful  Department  of  the  Government,  and  any 
attempt  from  the  outside  to  interfere  with  its  methods, 
could  produce  only  confusion,  embarrassment,  and 
all  those  evils  which  destroy  an  army  by  introduc 
ing  into  it  loose  notions  of  military  discipline  and 
responsibility. 

None  could  feel  more  deeply  than  the  enlightened 
gentlemen,  to  whom  he  was  then  speaking,  the  value 
of  thorough  and  exact  discipline  in  every  views  of  the 
department  of  the  army.  It  was  their 
earnest  desire  then,  as  it  has  been  the  line- 
constant  policy  of  their  successors,  the  Sanitary 
Commission,  ever  since,  to  urge,  upon  the  Govern 
ment  the  strictest  ideas  of  official  responsibility. 
As  will  be  seen  hereafter,  respect  for  official  rights 


50  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

and  official  authority  has  been  sedulously  main 
tained  by  them  towards  every  department  of  the 
Government,  and  especially  towards  that  very  depart 
ment  whose  legitimate  functions  they  were  desirous  of 
aiding.  They  recognised  not  only  the  value,  but  the 
indispensable  necessity  of  a  thoroughly  organized 
Medical  Department,  acting  with  absolute  authority 
within  its  proper  sphere;  but  at  the  time  of  the  con 
versation  with  Dr.  Wood  they  knew  that  it  was  wholly 
unequal  to  the  work  in  hand,  and  they  proposed,  in 
the  interests  of  humanity  and  patriotism,  to  supply  its 
practical  deficiencies  through  its  own  channels  and  by 
its  own  methods,  until  such  changes  were  effected  by 
legislation  as  would  enable  it  to  perform  thoroughly 
every  duty  which  could  be  required  of  it. 

During  this  interview  it  soon  became  apparent 
that  the  effort  to  induce  the  Medical  Department 
Preventive  to  acknowledge  that  it  needed  the  support 

scheme   pro- 

posed,  of  the  people,  and  would  accept  it  in  some 

intelligent  and  methodical  way  would  prove  hope 
less,  because  it  was  contrary  to  the  whole  antecedents 
of  the  Bureau,  and  inherently  troublesome.  The 
delegation  then  made  an  attempt  to  accomplish  its 
object  in  a  way  which  might  seem  more  consistent 
with  the  bureaucratic  spirit  of  the  Medical  Staff. 
It  proposed  a  scheme  of  preventive  service  in  the 
army,  looking  to  measures  which  would  insure 
the  investigation,  by  suitable  persons,  of  the  causes 
of  all  preventible  disease  in  camps  and  hospitals, 
who  should  have  authority  to  secure  their  removal. 
This  service  was  to  be  intrusted  to  a  mixed  Com 
mission  of  civilians,  of  medical  men,  and  of  military 


THEORY   OF   A   PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  51 

officers,  who  should  be  appointed  by  the  Government, 
and  charged  with  everything  relating  to  the  hygienic 
and  sanitary  needs  of  the  army.  This  Commission 
was  intended  to  co-operate  with  the  regular  Medical 
Bureau, and  according  to  the  original  intention  of  those 
who  proposed  it,  was  to  possess  authority  to  enforce  its 
recommendations. 

The  conviction  that  the  only  true  way  to  guard 
effectively  against  diseases  affecting  the  health  and 
lives  of  men  living  in  masses,  was,  by  comparative 

,        . .  . .  „        ,  value  of  preven- 

adopting  preventive  measures  01  a  hygienic  tive  measures, 
and  sanitary  kind,  was,  as  we  have  said,  not  a  new 
one  to  any  member  of  the  delegation.  The  wonderful 
results  of  such  measures  as  applied  to  the  over-crowded 
portions  of  manufacturing  towns  in  England  were 
familiar  to  all,  and  the  fresh  experience  of  the  Crimea 
proved  that  these  same  measures  were  just  as  essential 
to  the  preservation  of  the  health  of  armies.  On  the 
journey  to  Washington,  in  an  earnest  discussion  as  to 
the  plans  which  should  be  adopted  to  rouse  the 
Government  to  undertake  some  measures  by  which 
the  health  of  the  volunteers  would  be  assured,  Dr. 
Harris  had  strongly  urged  that  the  only  true  system 
which  would  cover  the  whole  ground,  and  reach  the 
seat  of  the  evil,  was  the  preventive  system,  founded 
upon  the  same  principles,  and  administered  by  a  Com 
mission  similar  to  that  whose  labors  had  produced 
such  happy  results  in  the  Crimea.  Dr.  Bellows  was 
much  impressed  with  these  views.  They  revived  his 
recollections  of  the  wonderful  results  of  sanitary 
measures  in  large  towns  with  which  his  former  studies 
in  Social  Science  had  rendered  him  familiar.  The 


52  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

subject  was  maturely  considered  and  canvassed  from 
every  point  of  view ;  the  possibility  of  introducing  so 
novel  and  extraneous  an  element  as  an  independent 
Sanitary  Commission,  with  real  powers,  into  our  sys 
tem,  its  desirableness  at  the  present  crisis,  the  proper 
sphere  of  its  functions,  the  qualifications  of  those  who 
were  to  compose  it, — all  these  matters  were  thoroughly 
discussed,  and  the  result  was  a  unanimous  determina 
tion  that  should  the  state  of  affairs  at  Washington 
prove  such  as  they  feared,  they  would  urge  upon  the 
Government  the  appointment  of  a  Commission  with 
full  powers,  whose  business  it  should  be,  either  through 
the  Medical  Bureau  or  independent  of  it,  as  might 
appear  best  on  examination,  to  establish  a  preventive 
hygienic  and  sanitary  service  for  the  benefit  of  the 
army. 

Their  interview  with  Dr.  Wood  not  only  served  to 
convince  them  more  thoroughly  of  the  absolute  neces- 
objections  to  a  sity  for  some  such  measure,  but  it  also  re- 
ryesteem,adviS°ry  vealed  to  them  the  serious  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  accomplishing  any  reform  whatever,  and  espe 
cially  one  of  so  sweeping  a  nature  as  they  proposed. 
It  should  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind  that  the 
merely  advisory  position  towards  the  Medical  Bureau, 
which  the  Sanitary  Commission  consented  after 
wards  to  occupy  was  not  one  of  its  own  choosing, 
nor  was  any  such  diluted  scheme  proposed  to  the 
Acting  Surgeon-General  by  the  delegation  from  New 
York.  Its  members  were  far  too  earnest  in  their 
anxiety  to  secure  the  adoption  of  true  sanitary  mea 
sures  for  the  care  of  the  troops,  and  they  had  had  too 
much  experience  in  the  perfect  uselessness  of  giving 


THEORY   OF    A   PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  53 

advice  and  issuing  recommendations  without  the 
power  to  enforce  their  adoption,  to  suppose  that  any 
real  good  could  be  effected  in  this  way.  It  was 
thought  important,  however,  to  secure  at  the  outset,  a 
foothold  by  establishing  at  least  friendly  relations 
with  the  Medical  Bureau.  Something  might  be  done 
in  this  way  at  any  rate  to  methodize,  and  render  of 
some  practical  value  the  scattered  benevolence  of  the 
country.  The  delegation  was  perfectly  satisfied  that  no 
system  except  one  which  should  clothe  its  officers  with 
power  not  merely  to  investigate  the  causes  of  preventi- 
ble  disease  in  the  army  and  recommend  their  removal, 
but  also  with  power  to  carry  their  recommendations  into 
effect,  would  cure  the  difficulty.  But  its  members  were 
also  perfectly  convinced,  from  their  interview  with  the 
Acting  Surgeon- General,  that  the  adoption,  by  the 
Government,  of  any  such  system,  at  present  at  least, 
was  impracticable.  They  were  therefore  obliged  to 
accept  the  modified  plan  upon  which  the  Sanitary 
Commission  was  afterwards  based,  because  it  was  the 
only  one  for  which  they  could  hope  for  the  slightest 
possible  co-operation  from  the  Medical  Department. 

This  plan  is  detailed  in  a  letter  addressed  by  the 
delegation  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  under  date  of 
May  18,  1861,  and  in  a  letter  from  the  ^tter  to  the 
Acting  Surgeon- General  to  the  Secretary,  of  Wai, 
the  twenty-second  of  the  same  month.*  The  first 
of  these  letters,  after  alluding  to  the  incessant  and  irre 
sistible  motions  of  the  zeal  of  the  people  in  the  offer 
of  medical  aid,  the  applications  of  nurses,  and  the 
contributions  of  supplies,  the  importance  of  bringing 

*  See  Appendix  No.  2. 


54  UNITED   STATES  SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

into  system  and  practical  shape  the  general  zeal  and 
benevolent  activity  of  the  women  of  the  land  in  be 
half  of  the  army,  and  the  desirableness  of  regulating 
the  relations  of  volunteer  associations  to  the  War 
Department,  and  especially  to  the  Medical  Bureau, 
asked  that  a  "mixed  Commission  of  civilians  distin 
guished  for  their  ^philanthropic  experience  and 
quaintance  with  sanitary  matters,  of  medical 
of  military  officers,  be  appointed  by  the  Government^ 
who  shall  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  investigating 
the  best  means  of  methodizing  and  reducing  to  prac 
tical  service  the  already  active  but  undirected  benevo 
lence  of  the  people  towards  the  army,  who  shall_cpn- 
sider  the  general  subject  of  the  prevention  of  sickness 
and  suffering  among  the  troops,  and  suggest  the  wisest 
methods,  which  the  people  at  large  can  use,  to  manifest 
their  good-will  towards  the  comfort,  security,  and 
health  of  the  army."  The  other  letter^  that  of  the  Act 
ing  Surgeon-GreiLeraL-to-4iie-Secretary ....of  War,  shows 
Letter  of  the  clearly  how  far  his  conference  with  the_New 
General  to  the  York  delegation  had  impressed  him  with  the 
Secretary  of  necessity  of  creating  a-  Sanitary  Commis- 

War,  asking  for  *  * 

the  appointment  sion,  and  what  limited  powers  he  was  will- 
LmmissiTn?'11'7  ing  to  accord  to  it.     He  says:  "The -Medi 
cal  Bureau  would,  in  my  judgment,  derive  important 
and  useful  aid  from  the  counsels  and   well-directed 
efforts  of  an  intelligent  and  scientific  Commission  to 
be  styled  a  'Commission  of  Inquiry  and  Advice_jn 
respect  of  the  Sanitary  Interests  of  the  United  States^ 
Forces,'   acting  in  co-operation  with  this  Bureau  in 
elaborating   and   applying   such   facts    as    might___£ej 
elicited  from  the  experience  and  more  extensive  obser- 


THEORY   OF   A   PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  55 

vations  ofthose_connected  with  armies,  with  reference 
to  the  diet  '  apdjggjfiaaj)f  the  troops,  and  the  organi- 
zation  of  military  hospitals,  etc,"  He  goes  on  to  say 
that  this  Commission  is  not  intended  to  interfere  with, 
but  to  strengthen  the  present  organization,  and  hints 
very  clearly  that  it  is  expected  to  confine  its  operations 
to  the  volunteers.  How  far  such  a  scheme  accords 
with  that  of  the  Crimean  Commission,  with  its  plenary 
powers  not  only  to  investigate  the  causes  of  disease, 
but  order  when  possible  their  removal,  and  especially 
to  insist  that  the  orders  given  were  duly  carried  out, 
and  with  the  original  plan  of  the  New  York  gentle 
men  based  upon  the  successful  experience  of  that 
system,  the  most  cursory  examination  will  render 
apparent.  Such  as  it  was,  however,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  to  accept  it,  simply  because  it  was  the  only 
sort  of  semi-official  recognition  which  the  Govern 
ment  was  then  willing  to  extend  to  what  it  ignorantly 
supposed  to  be  the  result  of  a  transient  popular  excite 
ment,  but  which  afterwards  proved  itself,  as  the  agent 
of  the  benevolence  of  the  country  directed  towards 
the  care  and  comfort  of  the  army,  one  of  the  most 
potent  causes  of  its  efficiency. 

The  Acting  Surgeon-  General  suggested,  in  his  let 
ter,  the  names  of  five  eminent  gentlemen  whom 
he  proposed  as  Commissioners  under  the  Names  of  Com' 

missioners  sug- 

new     organization,     two     of    whom     were  gested  by  the 


members  of  the  delegation  which  had  in- 
duced  him  to  ask  for  it.  So  far  as  these  two  gentle 
men,  and  indeed  all  the  members  of  the  delegation, 
were  concerned  they  were  not  only  undesirous,  but  in 
their  opinion  from  the  absorbing  nature  of  their  pro- 


56  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

fessional  occupations,  wholly  unable  to  give  that  time 
and  attention  to  the  duties  of  such  a  position  which 
their  importance  seemed  imperatively  to  demand.  The 
magnitude  of  the  work,  and  the  special  qualifications 
which  it  seemed  to  them  to  require  for  its  proper 
fulfillment,  pointejLin  their  opinion,  to  the  necessity 
of  selecting  experts  only  as  members  of  the  Commis 
sion,  or  at  least  the  creation  of  a  body  in  whicTT  the 
largest  share  of  the  work,  as  well  as  the  influence, 
should  devolve  upon  experts.  But  it  soon  became 
evident  that  if  the  Commission  was  to  have  any 
measure  of  practical  success,  those  who  had  been 
the  fathers  of  the  idea,  must  also  stand  as  its  sponsors 
during  its  growth  and  development,  guiding  it  with 
their  fostering  care,  and  nurturing  it  with  their  con 
stant  counsel  and  encouragement.  It  was,  therefore, 
by  an  unexpected  turn  of  events,  settled  thaiMDr._ 
Bellows  and  Dr.  Van  Buren,  two  of  the  most  over 
worked  men  in  the  country,  in  their  respective  call 
ings,  should  be  called  upon  to  give  shape  and  j3rjic-_ 
tical  direction  to  the  theory  which  they  had  proposed 
for  the  care  of  the  sanitary  interests  of  the__armj;. 
How  this  was  to  be  done  when  that  theory  was  shorn 
of  all  the  power  which  they  deemed  essential  to  its 
successful  and  effective  working,  and  especially  how 
they,  deeply  immersed  in  their  ordinary  duties  and 
wholly  untrained  in  systems  of  administration,  were 
to  suggest  such  measures  as  would  render  the  experi 
ment  successful,  were  very  perplexing  questions.  But 
the  necessities  of  the  situation,  and  particularly  the 
vast  importance  of  establishing  a  strong  bond  of 
sympathy  between  the  proposed  Commission  and  the 


THEORY   OF   A    PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  57 

people,  by  connecting  with  it  the  names  of  well- 
known  men  in  whom  the  public  would  repose  confi 
dence,  and  who  in  turn  would  rouse  that  public 
to  a  thorough  appreciation  of  its  scope  and  aim, 
finally  induced  these  gentlemen  to  accept  the  posi 
tion  into  which  they  had  been  so  unwillingly  forced. 
They,  perhaps,  supposed  that  their  functions  would 
be  confined  to  superintendence  and  direction,  and 
they  certainly  could  have  formed  no  idea  of  the 
engrossing  nature  of  the  duties  they  were  obliged  to 
assume  during  the  four  years  of  the  war,  a  period 
rendered  by  their  connection  with  the  Commission, 
the  most  laborious  and  harassing  of  their  whole 
lives. 

But  the  task  of  the  New  York  gentlemen,  now 
grown  so  wholly  beyond  the  limits  which  they  had 
proposed  to  themselves  on  going  to  Wash-  Opposition  in 
ington,  was  not  yet  completed.  They  had  partment, 
asked,  as  we  have  seen,  in  an  official  communication 
to  the  Secretary  of  War,  that  a  Commission  should  be 
appointed,  and  their  application  was  enforced  by  the 
approval  of~ffie~"Chief  of ^  th^]Medic^  ^re^u.  To 
complete  their  task,  they  were  of  course  forced  to 
procure  the  sanction  of  the  highest  officers  of  Govern 
ment.  Here  a  new  class  of  difficulties  met  them.  In 
the  Medical  Bureau  the  objection  to  their  scheme  was 
its  alleged  interference  with  a  thoroughly  organized 
and  long  tried  Government  machine,  but  as  they  as 
cended  into  the  higher  regions  of  official  authority  it 
was  found  that  the  lofty  motives  which  had  been  fully 
recognized  in  the  office  of  the  Surgeon -General,  were 
little  appreciated  by  his  official  superiors.  It  was  more 


58  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

than  insinuated  that  their  scheme  was  a  cunning 
device  to  gain  power  for  selfish  ends.  The  perfect 
disinterestedness  of  their  motives  was  a  quality  so 
rare  in  the  moral  atmosphere  of  Washington,  as  to 
suggest  to  those  who  had  lived  longest  in  it  grave 
doubts  as  to  its  reality  and  genuineness.  One  Secre 
tary,  utterly  incapable  of^  comprehending  the  scope 
and  aim  of  the  grand  scheme  of  reform  they_were 
urging  with  such  unselfish  zeal,  begged  its  advocates 
to  state  frankly,  precisely  what  they  wanted,  as  it  was 
evident  to  him  that  they  could  not  want  only  what 
they  seemed  to  be  asking  for.  Another  thought  it 
one  of  those  many  visionary  schemes  of  reform  which 
the  great  intellectual  activity  of  the  country,  excited 
by  the  new  condition  of  things,  was  forcing  upon  the 
attention  of  the  Government.  The  President  himself 
with  all  his  humane  instincts  could  not  understand  it, 
"and  regarded  its  establishment,  to  use  his  own  expres 
sive  language,  as  adding  a  "fifth  wheel  to  the  coach." 
The  highest  officers  of  the  Government  were  unani 
mous  in  thinking  the  whole  plan  impracticable,  and 
there  can,  it  is  feared,  be  little  doubt  that  the  appoint 
ment  of  the  Commission  was  at  last  consented  to  as 
if  it  had  been  a  "tub  thrown  to  the  popular  whale." 
The  Government  was  apparently  satisfied  that  it  could 
do  no  good,  but  also  that  it  could  do  no  great  harm, 
and  that  after  a  short  trial  it  would  be  abandoned  as 
practically  worthless,  and  remembered  only  as  a 
monument  of  the  folly  of  weak  enthusiasts,  and  of 
well-meaning  but  silly  women. 

Meanwhile,   during  those  days  of  painful  anxiety 
which  preceded  the   birth  of  the   Sanitary  Commis- 


THEORY   OF   A   PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  59 

sion,  the  unusual  spectacle  was  presented  of  DT,  Fbiey  ap- 
men  who  would  have  scorned  to  ask  at  such  P°in*ed  Sur; 

geon-U- e  n  e  r  EL 

a  time  any  personal  favor  of  the  Govern-  His  opposition, 
ment,  patiently  waiting  in  the  ante- chambers  of  high 
officials,  seeking  an  opportunity  to  prove  to  their 
puzzled  comprehension  that  the  being  they  were  asked 
to  usher  into  the  world  was  no  monster,  but  the  legiti 
mate  offspring  of  the  purest  and  holiest  impulses  of 
the  American  people.  At  length  the  hour  for  a  safe 
deliverance  seemed  approaching,  when  just  at  this 
juncture  an  unlooked-for  event  occurred  which,  for  a 
time,  dashed  all  their  hopes.  DR.  LAWSON,  the  Sur 
geon-General,  who  had  long  been  prevented  by  disease 
from  performing  the  duties  of  his  office,  died,  and  DR. 
FINLEY,  as  the  next  in  rank,  was  at  once  appointed 
his  successor.  No  sooner  had  he  entered  upon  his 
office  than  he  informed  the  Secretary  of  War  that  he 
disapproved  entirely  of  the  proposed  Sanitary  Com 
mission,  and  that  he  could  not  concur  in  the  recom 
mendation  of  Dr.  Wood  who,  as  Acting  Surgeon- 
General  had  asked  for  its  appointment.  Then  fol 
lowed  a  scene,  into  the  details  of  which  we  do  not 
propose  to  enter,  between  the  Surgeon- General  and 
those  who  having  toiled  so  painfully  to  induce  the 
Government  to  permit  the  inauguration  of  this  great 
work  of  mercy,  suddenly  found  themselves  checked  in 
their  humane  endeavor.  After  much  explanation  and 
negotiation,  it  was  agreed  that  the  operations  of  the 
Commission  should  be  confined  to  the  volunteers,  and 
in  that  shape  the  project  received  at  last  the  reluctant 
approval  of  the  Surgeon-General.  The  significance 
of  the  distinction  thus  made  between  the  supposed 


60  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

wants  of  regular  and  volunteer  troops  is  very  pain 
ful  and  suggestive,  and  it  was  one  unfortunately 
which  influenced  the  opinions,  and  controlled  the 
action  of  almost  all  officers  of  rank  in  the  regular 
army  at  the  outset  of  the  war.  That  volunteers 
could  ever  make  good  soldiers,  and  especially  that 
their  officers  could  ever  be  fitted  for  high  commands, 
or  learn  how  to  take  care  of  their  men,  was  long 
esteemed  rank  heresy  according  to  the  creed  of  pro 
fessional  soldiers. 

It  is  humiliating  to  record  the  utter  inability  on  the 
part  of  our  highest  American  officials  to  appreciate 
the  best-considered  and  most  widely-extended  system 
of  mitigating  the  horrors  of  war  known  in  history, 
and  especially  at  a  time  when  the  existence  of  the 
Government  was  dependent  upon  the  health  and 
efficiency  of  that  army,  which  the  appointment  of  a 
Sanitary  Commission  was  designed  to  promote.  Much 
may  be  said  in  explanation  of  this  indifference  as  to 
the  want  of  familiarity  with  such  subjects  by  the  pro 
minent  officials,  more  as  to  the  engrossing  nature  of 
questions  the  decision  of  which  seemed  to  be  of  more 
pressing  and  instant  importance.  Still  the  fact  re 
mains  not  only  to  instruct  us  as  to  the  obstacles  which 
all  projects  of  reform,  however  praiseworthy,  must 
always  meet  from  the  vis  inertias  of  the  Government, 
but  also  as  an  encouragement  to  those  who,  sustained 
by  their  deep  convictions  of  the  wisdom  and  propriety 
of  change,  persevere  manfully  until  success  crowns 
their  efforts. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  want  of  sympathy 
which  was  shown  by  our  Government  to  popular 


THEORY   OF   A   PREVENTIVE   SERVICE.  61 

efforts  to  extend  relief  to  the  army._outsijle  Contrast  be- 

. ,  — i — "  — i —      — i      : ~Ti i    tween  the  action 

the  regular  channels  is  the  course  pursued  of  onr  govern. 
by  the  English  Officials  during  the  war  in  ™nt  and  that  of 

J  Great  Britain  in 

the  Crimea.  If  there  be  any  system  of  ad-  the  Crimea, 
ministration  more  completely  tied  to  precedent,  formal 
ism,  and  routine,  than  another,  it  is  that  of  the  English 
Government,.  Yet  the  memorable  letter  o_f_Mr.  Sid 
ney  Herbert  tp^  Miss  Nightingale  begging  her  to 
organize  a  corps  of  nurses  and  proceed  at  once  to  the 
hospitals  at  Scutari,  and  adopt  such  measures  as  she  in 
her  discretion  might  think  best  to  mitigate  the  hor 
rors  with  which  it  was  evident  the  Medical  Staff  there 
could  not  successfully  cope,  shows,  that  when  the  ne 
cessity  is  made  apparent,  the  most  enlightened  English 
statesman,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  his  official  respon 
sibility,  does  not  hesitate  to  cut  at  once  the  "red  tape" 
in  which  the  cause  of  humanity  may  be  otherwise 
strangled.  No  deputation  of  influential  men  repre 
senting  the  deep  feeling  of  popular  sympathy,  be  it 
remembered,  dictated  these  instructions.  The  letter 
was  a  private  one,  but  its  inspiration  and  the  au 
thority  it  conferred  came  alike  unprompted  from  an 
official  source.  In  this  letter  Miss  Nightingale  was 
told  "You  will  of  course  have  plenary  authority  over 
all  the  nurses,  and  I  think  I  can  secure  you  the  fullest 
assistance  and  co-operation  from  the  Medical  Staff, 
and  you  will  have  an  unlimited  power  of  drawing  on 
the  Government  for  whatever  you  think  requisite  for 
the  success  of  your  mission.  Deriving  your  authority 
from  the  Government,  your^positiQn  will  insure  the 
respect^arrdrconsiderafion  of  every  one,  especially  in  a 
service  where  official  rank  carries  so  much  weight. 


62  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

This  will  secure  you  any  attention  or  comfort  on  your 
way  out  there,  together  with  a  complete  submission 
to  your  orders.  Your  own  personal  qualities,  your 
knowledge,  and  your  power  of  administration,  and 
among  greater  things,  your  rank  and  position  in 
society,  give  you  advantages  in  such  a  work  which  no 
other  person  possesses.  If  this  succeeds,  an  enormous 
amount  of  good  will  be  done  now,  and  to  persons 
deserving  everything  at  our  hands,  and  which  will 
multiply  the  good  to  all  time."  Can  we  be  blamed 
for  regretting  that  words  of  encouragement,  such  as 
these  which  were  addressed  to  Miss  Nightingale  to 
induce  her  to  enter  upon  her  arduous  duties,  words 
which  might  have  been  so  fittingly  spoken  to  the 
eminent  philanthropists  who  urged  our  Government 
to  adopt  a  similar  system  at  the  outset  of  the  war, 
were  withheld  from  them  until  their  task  was 
finished,  and  their  success  assured  in  the  grateful 
appreciation  of  a  whole  people. 


CHAPTER    III. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SANITAKY  COMMIS 
SION. 

AFTER  much  negotiation,  involving  tedious  delay,  on 
the  9th  of  June,  1861,  the  Secretary  of  War  issued  an  or 
der*  appointing  Henry  W.  Bellows,  D.  D.,  Names  of  the 
Prof.  A.  D.  Bache,  LL.D.,  Prof.  Jeffries  Wy-  Commissioners, 
man,  M.  D.,  W.  H.  Van  Buren,  M.  D.,  Wolcott  Gibbs, 
M.  D.,  Samuel  G.  Howe,  M.  D.,  R,  C.  Wood,  Surgeon 
U.  S.  A.,  G.  W.  Cullum,  U.  S.  A.,  Alexander  E. 
Shiras,  U.  S.  A.,  in  connection  with  such  others  as 
they  might  choose  to  associate  with  them,  "A  Com- 
mission  of  Inquiry  and  Advice  in  respect  of  the  Sani 
tary  interests  of  the  United  States  Forces."  They 
were^to  serve  without  remuneration*  from  the  Govern  - 
ment^  and  were  to  be  provided  with  a  room  for  their 
use  in  the  City  of  Washington.  They^vvere  to  direct 
their  inquiries  to  the  principles  and  practice  connected 
with  the  inspection  of  recruits  and  enlisted  men,  the 
sanitary  condition  of  volunteers,  to  the  means  of  pre 
serving  and  restoring  the  health  and  of  securing  the 
general  comfort  and  efficiency  of  the  troops,  to  the 
proper  provision  of  cooks,  nurses,  and  hospitals,  and 
to  other  subjects  of  a  like  nature.  The  mode  by  which 
they  proposed  to  conduct  these  inquiries  was  detailed 

*  See  Appendix  Xo.  3. 


64  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

in  the  letter  of  the  New  York  delegation  to  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  of  the  22d  of  May.  The  order  appoint 
ing  them  directed  that  they  should  correspond  freely 
with  the  Department  and  with  the  Medical  Bureau 
concerning  these  subjects,  and  on  this  footing  and  with 
in  these  limits,  their  relations  with  the  official  authori 
ties  were  established.  To  enable  them  to  carry  out 
fully  the  purposes  of  their  appointment  the  Surgeon- 
Greneral  issued  a  circular,  announcing  the  creation  of 
the  Commission,  and  directing  all  the  officers  in  his 
department  to  grant  its  Agents  every  facility  in  the 
prosecution  of  their  duties. 

On  the  12th  of  June  the  gentlemen  named  as  Com 
missioners  Tn  the  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the 
First  meeting  of  9th,  (with  the  exception  of  ProfessoT^Wy- 
the  Commission,  man  W}1O  }iac[  declineci  his  appointment,) 

assembled  at  Washington.  They  proceeded  to  orga 
nize  the  Board  by  the  selection  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
BELLOWS  as  President.  Their  first  care  was  to  secure 
the  services  of  certain  gentlemen  as  colleagues,  who 
were  supposed  to  possess  special  qualifications,  but 
whose  names  had  not  been  included  in  the  original 
warrant.  Accordingly  Dr.  Elisha  Harris  and  Dr. 
Cornelius  R.  Agnew  were  unanimously  chosen  Com 
missioners  at  the  first  meeting,  and  George  T.  Strong, 
Esq.,  and  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry,  in  like  manner,  aJLthe 
one  next  succeeding.*  At  the  first  session  "a  Plan  of 


*  The  following  named  gentlemen  were  elected  by  the  Board,  Members  of 
the  Commission  at  different  periods  during  the  war ;  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Clark, 
Hon.  R.  W.  Burnett,  Hon.  Mark  Skinner,  Hon.  Joseph  Holt,  Horace  Binney, 
Jr.,  Rev.  J.  H.  Heywood,  Prof.  Fairman  Rogers,  J.  Huntington  Wolcott,  Charles 
J.  Stilld,  E.  B.  M'Cagg,  F.  Law  Olmsted. 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   SANITARY    COMMISSION.     65 

Organization,"  prepared  by  the   President,  was   pre 
sented,  discussed,  and  finally  adopted.* 

On  the  13th  the  Commission,  in  a  body,  waited  on 
the  President  and  Secretary  of  War,  who  gave  their 
formal  sanction  to  this  "  Plan  of  Organization"  by 
affixing  to  it  their  signatures.  This  Plan  forms  the 
Constitution  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  pianof 
It  deserves  careful  study,  not  merely  as  a  zationi 
statement  of  the  methods  by  which  it  was  proposed 
that  the  great  truths  of  sanitary  science  should  be 
practically  applied  to  secure  the  health  and  efficiency 
of  the  soldier,  but  also  as  an  evidence  of  the  sagacity, 
foresight,  and  definiteness  of  aim  of  those  who  devised 
it.  The  experience  of  the  war  suggested  but  little 
alteration  even  in  its  outline,  while  to  a  strict  adherence 
to  the  general  principles  it  embodies,  the  Sanitary 
Commission  owes  all  the  wonderful  success  it  has 
achieved.  This  plan  reduces  to  a  practical  system 
and  method  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  letters  of 
the  New  York  gentlemen  to  the  Government  authori 
ties,  and  endeavors  to  apply  them  to  the  actual  existing 
condition  of  the  army.  Confining  its  proposed  opera 
tions  within  the  limited  sphere  of  "inquiry"  and 
"advice,"  which  had  been  assigned  to  it  by  the 
Government,  it  declares  what  it  proposes  to  do,  and  by 
what  methods,  in  each  of  these  departments  of  duty. 
In  order  that  its  work  might  be  carried  on  systemati 
cally  and  thoroughly,  two  general  committees  were 
created,  one  respecting  "Inquiry"  the  other  "Advice." 
The  object  of  the  first  was  to  determine  by  all  the  light 
which  could  be  derived  from  experience,  what  must 

*  See  Appendix  No.  4. 


66  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

necessarily  be  the  wants  and  condition  of  troops 
brought  together  as  ours  had  been,  to  ascertain 
exactly  how  far  evils  which  had  proved  the  scourge 
of  other  armies  had  already  invaded  our  own,  and  to 
decide  concerning  the  best  measures  to  be  adopted  to 
remove  all  causes  of  removable  and  preventible  dis 
ease.  Each  branch  of  "Inquiry,"  under  this  head, 
was  referred  to  a  distinct  sub-committee.  From  the 
first  was  expected  suggestions  of  such  preventive 
measures  as  experience  in  former  wars  proved  to  be 
absolutely  essential,  to  the  second  was  entrusted  the 
actual  inspection,  by  its  own  members  or  their  agents, 
of  the  camps  and  hospitals,  so  that  the  real  condition 
of  the  army  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view,  concerning 
which  there  were  then  many  conflicting  rumors,  could 
be  definitely  known;  to  the  third  was  referred  all 
questions  concerning  the  improvement  of  the  health 
and  efficiency  of  the  army  in  respect  of  diet,  clothing, 
quarters,  and  matters  of  a  similar  nature. 

In  regard  to  the  other  branch  of  the  duty  assigned 
to  the  Commission  under  its  appointment, — that  of 
"ADVICE,"  the  Board  took  the  same  wide  and  compre 
hensive  views  as  had  guided  them  in  regard  to  the 
needful  subjects  of  inquiry.  Their  scheme  of  organi 
zation  declares  that  the  general  object  of  this  branch 
of  their  service  shall  be  "to  get  the  opinions  and  con 
clusions  of  the  Commission  approved  by  the  Medical 
Bureau,  ordered  by  the  War  Department,  and  carried 
out  by  the  officers  and  men."  It  will  be  seen  by  this 
enumeration  of  the  functions  with  which  the  Commis 
sion  considered  itself  invested  as  an  adviser  of  the 
Government,  that  it  had  no  intention  of  wasting  its 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE    SANITARY    COMMISSION.     67 

time  in  the  barren  and  thankless  task  of  merely 
counselling  lazy,  ignorant,  or  worthless  subordinate 
officials.  If  it  urged  them  to  undertake  some  much 
needed  reform  requiring  possibly  hard  work,  it  was  to 
be  understood  that  it  controlled  the  power  which  could 
enforce  compliance  with  its  suggestions.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  term  "advice,"  as  referring  to  the  per 
formance  of  a  duty  like  this  with  which  the  Sanitary 
Commission  considered  itself  charged,  does  not  seem 
very  appropriate.  We  must  look,  however,  for  its 
practical  meaning  and  significance  to  all  the  features 
of  the  "plan,"  as  defined  by  its  projectors,  and  delibe 
rately  adopted  by  the  Government.  It  is  important 
that  a  clear  conception  of  the  true  functions  of  the 
Commission  in  this  matter  of  advice  should  be  had, 
for  thus  only  can  its  practical  relations  with  the 
Government  officials  during  the  war  be  understood. 

So  far  it  will  be  observed  all  the  details  of  the  plan 
pointed  to  a  strictly  preventive  service,  consisting  in  a 
thorough  investigation  of  the  causes  of  pre-  System  of  relief, 
ventible  diseases,  and  to  advice  to  be  given  in  a  some 
what  peremptory  form,  perhaps,  to  the  Government 
as  to  the  proper  remedies  to  be  employed  for  their 
removal.  All  this  was  in  strict  accordance,  no  doubt, 
with  the  original  conception  of  the  Commission,  and 
the  space  occupied  by  it  in  the  "plan,"  is  an  evidence 
of  the  paramount  importance  attached  to  it  as  part  of 
the  general  scheme,  still  the  necessity  of  devising 
some  general  system  by  which  the  contributions  of  the 
country  for  the  relief  and  comfort  of  the  army,  then 
diverted  into  many  channels  and  often  failing  to  reach 
their  destination,  could  be  rendered  more  practically 


68  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

useful,  and  reach  the  soldier  in  a  way  more  in  harmony 
with  the  discipline  and  usages  of  the  army,  was  not 
lost  sight  of  in  the  organization  of  the  Commission. 
It  was  proposed,  in  order  to  accomplish  this  object, 
that  a  Convention  composed  of  delegates  from  Societies 
throughout  the  country  working  in  aid  of  the  soldier, 
should  meet  at  an  early  day  in  New  York,  where  the 
subject  could  be  fully  considered,  and  some  wise  gene 
ral  system  of  carrying  out  their  plans  agreed  upon. 
This  Convention  was  never  held,  and  although  the  re 
lief  system  occupied  comparatively  so  unimportant  a 
place  in  the  proposed  work  of  the  Commission  at  the 
outset,  still  the  wise  counsels  which  it  afterwards  gave 
as  to  the  organization  of  Aid  Societies,  and  the  wise 
methods  it  pursued  in  the  distribution  of  the  bounty 
of  the  country,  at  last  made  it  the  main  channel  by 
which  that  bounty  was  directed  to  the  army.  Indeed 
the  interest  excited  in  thousands  of  homes  throughout 
the  land  whose  inmates  were  members  of  these  Aid 
Societies  in  favor  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  who 
looked  upon  it  only  as  the  almoner  of  their  vast  offerings 
for  the  relief  of  the  army,  led  to  the  popular  error  that 
it  was  only  a  relief  association  upon  a  grand  scale, 
and  quite  overshadowed  in  popular  estimation  its 
original  purpose,  if  not  the  exclusive  and  peculiar 
work  which  it  proposed  to  engage  in.  The  Commis 
sion  itself,  however,  never  departed  from  the  true 
scientific  idea  and  conception  of  a  preventive  system, 
and  always  regarded  the  relief  system,  vast  as  was  the 
place  occupied  by  it  in  the  war,  as  inferior  in  the  im 
portance  of  its  results  to  those  due  to  well-considered 
and  thoroughly  executed  preventive  measures. 


ORGANIZATION    OF   THE   SANITARY   COMMISSION.     69 

Before  proceeding  to  describe  the  measures  which 
were  adopted  by  the  Commission  to  carry  into  practi 
cal  effect  the  object  of  its  organization,  it  sketch  of  the 

Commissioners, 


may  be  well  to  glance  at  some  of  the  more 
striking  characteristics  of  those  who  had  undertaken 
this  hazardous  experiment  of  Sanitary  Reform  in  the 
army.  The  REV.  DR.  BELLOWS,  to  whom  much  of  the 
credit  of  the  original  conception  of  a  Sanitary  Com 
mission  at  all  suited  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  of 
this  country  was  due,  and  who  was  with  entire  unani 
mity  selected  as  its  President,  possessed  many  re 
markable  qualifications  for  so  responsible  a  position. 
Perhaps  no  man  in  the  country  exerted  a  wider  or 
more  powerful  influence  over  those  who  were  earnestly 
seeking  the  best  means  of  defending  our  threatened 
nationality,  and  certainly  never  was  a  moral  power  of 
this  kind  founded  upon  juster  and  truer  grounds.  This 
influence  was  not  confined  to  his  home,  the  city  of 
New  York,  although  there  it  was  incontestably  very 
great,  but  it  extended  over  many  other  portions  of  the 
country,  and  particularly  throughout  New  England, 
where  circumstances  had  made  his  name  and,  his  repu 
tation  for  zeal  and  ability,  familiar  to  those  most  likely 
to  aid  in  the  furtherance  of  the  new  scheme.  This 
power  was  due,  partly  of  course,  to  the  very  eminent 
position  which  he  occupied  as  a  clergyman,  partly  to 
the  persistent  efforts  and  enlightened  zeal  with  which 
he  had  long  advocated  all  wise  measures  of  social  re 
form,  partly,  perhaps,  to  his  widely  extended  reputa 
tion  as  an  orator,  but  principally,  and  above  all,  to 
that  rare  combination  of  wide  comprehensive  views  of 
great  questions  of  public  policy  with  extraordinary 


70  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

practical  sagacity  and  wisdom,  which  enabled  hinTso 
to  organize  popular  intelligence  and  sympathy  that 
the  best  practical  results  were  attained  while  the  life- 
giving  principle  was  preserved.  He  had  the  credit  of 
not  being  what  so  many  of  his  profession  are,  an 
ideologue;  he  had  the  clearest  perception  of  what  could 
and  what  could  not  be  done,  and  he  never  hesitated  to 
regard  actual  experience  as  the  best  practical  test  of 
the  value  of  his  plans  and  theories.  These  qualities, 
so  precious  and  so  exceptional  in  their  nature,  ap 
peared  conspicuously  in  the  efforts  made  by  him  to 
secure  the  appointment  of  the  Commission  by  the 
Government,  and  it  will  be  found  that  every  page  of 
its  history  bears  the  strong  impress  of  his  peculiar 
and  characteristic  views.  The  first  fruit  which  the 
Commission  received  from  his  labors  was  the  "  Plan 
of  Organization,"  and  in  order  to  show  how  soon  a 
grand  idea  was  developed  to  its  full  maturity  in  his 
fertile  mind,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  this  funda 
mental  law  which,  by  a  strange  prescience,  seemed 
perfectly  fitted  to  meet  all  the  emergencies  which 
arose  in  a  service  hitherto  untried  and  unknown, 
assumed  the  shape  and  form  it  now  bears,  during  the 
labors  of  a  single  morning. 

With  Dr.  Bellows  were  associated  several  men  of 
great  public  reputation,  each  possessing  some  peculiar 
qualifications  by  which  the  general  success  of  the 
Professor  Aiex-  work  was  assured.  PROFESSOR  ALEXANDER 

ander    Dallas 

Bache,  DALLAS   BACHE,  the  Vice-President,  occu 

pied,  with  peculiar  fitness,  the  position  to  which  he  had 
been  called.  He  was  the  head  of  a  great  national 
work,  that  of  the  Coast  Survey  ;  he  was  a  man  of  emi- 


ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    SANITARY    COMMISSION.     71 

nent  scientific  reputation  at  home  and  abroad,  and  his 
judgment  on  all  subjects,  remarkably  clear  and  true, 
was  invaluable  in  the  Council  of  an  organization, 
which,  if  it  effected  the  good  it  contemplated  must  con 
stantly  maintain  cordial  relations  with  the  Govern 
ment,  and  yet  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  the 
utmost  skill  and  delicacy  were  required  to  maintain 
those  relations  in  all  their  integrity.  The  high  official 
rank  of  Professor  Bache,  and  his  long  experience  as 
an  officer  of  the  Government  were  scarcely  less  ser 
viceable  to  the  Commission  at  the  outset,  than  the 
unwearied  zeal,  stimulated  by  perfect  faith  in  the  idea 
it  embodied,  which  distinguished  him  in  his  efforts  to 
give  practical  effect  to  its  methods  during  the  whole 
period  of  its  history. 

DR.  VAN  BUREN  was  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Commission  to  whom  it  was  indebted  for  services  in 
the  early  period  of  its  history,  which  when  Dr,  Van  Buren, 
viewed  by  the  light  of  experience  it  would  seem  im 
possible  to  have  dispensed  with.  To  his  eminent 
professional  reputation  which  had  done  so  much  to 
secure  a  respectful  hearing  of  the  claims  of  the 
Commission  at  the  outset,  he  joined  a  calm  and  sober 
judgment,  not  only  of  what  ought  to  be  done,  but  of 
what,  with  proper  efforts,  could  be  done.  His  former 
connection  with  the  Medical  Staff  giving  him  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  defects  of  the  system, 
gave  also  a  practical  value  to  his  suggestions  of 
remedy  which  it  is  impossible  to  over-estimate.  The 
Commission  did  not  hesitate  to  follow  implicitly  his 
counsel  in  all  its  suggestions  of  reform  measures,  and 
the  following  pages  will  show  that  the  wisdom  and 


72  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

propriety  of  his  advice  has  been  fully  confirmed  by 
the  experience  of  its  whole  history. 

PROFESSOR  GIBBS  was  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Commission  from  whose  earnestness,  wisely  tempered 
Professor  Gibbs,  judgment,  and  great  scientific  ability  much 
assistance  was  expected  by  his  colleagues.  Perfectly 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  principle  upon  which 
the  Commission  was  based,  he  devoted  himself  with 
untiring  zeal  to  a  special  investigation  of  all  the 
scientific  questions  (non-medical)  which  were  brought 
before  the  Commission  at  the  commencement  of  its 
work.  This  duty,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  became  a 
most  serious  and  responsible  one,  but  the  Commission 
was  always  satisfied  that  its  reputation  as  a  quasi- 
scientific  body  was  safe  in  his  hands.  But  his  services 
were  by  no  means  confined  to  this  special  field  of 
inquiry.  His  zeal  and  earnestness,  his  comprehensive 
and  practical  views  upon  all  questions  of  general 
policy  were  always  conspicuous,  and  while  he  com 
manded  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  colleagues, 
he  exerted  a  most  important  influence  upon  the  whole 
work  of  the  Commission. 

DR.  ELISHA  HARRIS,  another  of  the  Commissioners, 
had  had  greater  opportunities  for  observing  the  prac- 
Dr.EiishaHar-  tical  working  of  purely  Sanitary  measures 
ris-  than  any  of  his  colleagues.  His  position  as 

Physician  of  the  Great  Quarantine  Hospital  at  New 
York  had  led  him  to  a  thorough  study  of  Sanitary 
laws.  He  had  become  familiar  with  all  the  methods 
adopted  by  the  English  Government  to  restore  to 
health  its  shattered  army  in  the  Crimea,  and  his  sug 
gestions  therefore  as  to  the  practical  measures  to  be 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   SANITARY   COMMISSION.    73 

followed  here,  founded  upon  that  experience,  were,  of 
course,  of  the  very  highest  value. 

DR.  AGNEW  brought  to  the  service  of  the  Commis 
sion  the  valuable  experience  he  had  gained  while  per 
forming  the  duties  of  a  Medical  Director  of  Dr.c.B.Agnew, 
the  troops  then  being  raised  in  New  York.  He 
soon  exhibited  a  practical  skill,  executive  ability, 
and  at  all  times  a  perfect  generosity  of  personal  toil 
and  trouble  in  carrying  on  the  Commission's  work 
which  gave  him,  during  its  whole  progress,  a  com 
manding  influence  in  its  councils.  Oppressed  by 
serious  and  responsible  professional  cares  he  never 
theless  watched  over  with  keenest  interest  the 
details  of  the  Commission's  service,  and  he  set  an 
example  of  self-sacrifice  and  disregard  of  personal 
interest  when  the  succor  of  the  soldier  claimed  his 
attention,  or  required  his  presence.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  the  life-saving  work  of  the  Commission  at 
Antietam,  the  relief  which  it  afforded  on  so  vast  a 
scale  after  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  and  the 
succor  which  it  was  able  to  minister  to  thousands 
of  our  soldiers  returning  to  us  from  rebel  prisons 
diseased,  naked,  and  famishing,  owed  much  of 
their  efficiency  and  success  to  plans  arranged  by 
Dr.  Agnew,  and  carried  out  at  personal  risk 
and  inconvenience  under  his  immediate  superinten 
dence. 

The  arduous  and  responsible  post  of  Treasurer  fell 
to  the  lot  of  Mr.  GEORGE  T.  STRONG,  and  the  exact 
ness  and  fidelity  with  which  he  discharged  Mr<  George  T> 
its  duties  during  its  whole  history,  were  Stron£' 

scarcely  less  conspicuous  than  the  unwearied  zeal  with 
10 


74  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

which  he  strove  to  direct  aright  its  general  policy  by 
his  wise  and  judicious  counsel. 

DR.  NEWBERRY  was  recommended  as  a  man  of 
broad  views,  of  enlarged  experience,  and  of  high 
DT,  John  s,  scientific  reputation.  The  peculiar  sphere 
Newberry,  jn  which  his  great  abilities  shone  forth 
most  conspicuously  during  the  war  was  the  Western 
Department,  where  he  was  charged  with  the  super 
intendence  of  the  Commission's  work  as  Associate 
Secretary.  Still  his  advice  and  general  views  founded 
upon  personal  observation  of  the  wants  of  that  great 
field,  made  him  a  most  valuable  member  at  the 
Council  Board  of  the  Commission.  His  suggestions 
in  regard  to  everything  concerning  the  armies  operat 
ing  in  the  West,  exerted  so  controlling  an  influence 
as  to  shape  wholly  the  policy  of  the  Commission  in 
carrying  on  its  special  work  among  them. 

These  eight  gentlemen  were  the  true  founders  of 
the  Sanitary  Commission.  By  them  the  earliest  deve 
lopment  of  its  policy  was  shaped  and  guided,  to  them, 
and  to  the  General  Secretary  whom  they  appointed, 
the  merit  of  whatever  was  wise  in  its  conception,  or 
practical,  efficient,  and  life-saving  in  its  plan  and 
method  during  its  whole  history,  is  justly  due.  On 
this  account  it  has  seemed  best  to  sketch  some  of  the 
modes  by  which  the  peculiar  qualifications  of  each  were 
made  to  advance  the  general  design.  The  other  mem 
bers  of  the  Commission,  Dr.  Howe  of  Boston,  Dr. 
Wood,  Acting  Surgeon-General,  Colonel  Cullum  of 
General  Scott's  Staff,  and  Major  Shiras  of  the  Subsis 
tence  Department,  all  rendered  valuable  aid  at  the  com 
mencement,  but  other  pressing  duties  of  a  public  nature 


OKGANIZATION    OF   THE    SANITARY    COMMISSION.     75 

soon  absorbed  their  attention,  and  thus  the  Commis 
sion  was  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  their  counsel  and 
experience. 

It  will  be  observed  on  referring  to  the  Plan  of  Orga 
nization  that  it  was  designed  that  the  office  of  Resident 
Secretary  should  be  one  of  the  highest  im-  BesidentorGea- 
portance.  He  was  to  be  charged  with  the  eral  Secretary- 
chief  executive  duties  of  the  Commission,  to  correspond 
constantly  with  its  President,  and  to  reside  in  Wash 
ington,  where  he  was  expected  to  maintain  intimate 
personal  relations  with  high  Government  officials.  By 
him  were  to  be  appointed  the  agents  of  the  Commis 
sion,  charged  with  the  inspection  of  camps  and  hospi 
tals,  and  with  the  duty  of  giving  the  "  advice"  of  the 
Commission  where  the  case  needed  advice.  They  were 
to  receive  their  instructions  from  him,  and  their  reports 
were  to  be  made  to  him.  It  was  made  his  business 
also  to  see  that  the  recommendations  of  these  Inspec 
tors  received  the  attention  of  the  proper  Government 
authorities,  and  were  duly  enforced.  In  short,  he  was 
to  be  the  General  Manager  of  the  Commission,  respon 
sible  for  the  faithful  performance  of  all  the  work  which 
it  had  undertaken,  even  in  its  minutest  details.  It 
was  of  course  not  easy  to  find  a  man  wholly  qualified 
for  such  a  position.  It  was  necessary  that  he  should 
possess  perhaps  the  rarest  combination  of  qualities 
found  in  human  experience.  He  must  unite  great  ad 
ministrative  capacity  with  unswerving  faith  and  reli 
ance  upon  great  fundamental  principles  of  policy,  and 
his  capacity  was  to  be  tested  in  a  field  of  labor  perfectly 
new,  and  hitherto  wholly  unexplored,  at  least  in  this 
country.  The  Commission,  after  a  good  deal  of  deli- 


76  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

Deration,  decided  that  Mr.  FREDERICK  LAW  OLMSTED, 
at  that  time  Architect  in  Chief  and  Superintendent  of 
Appointment  of  the  Central  Park  in  New  York,  possessed  the 

Frederick  Law 

oimsted,  essential  qualities  requisite  for  this  position, 
and  he  was  induced  to  accept  it.  How  he  performed 
the  duties  of  the  office,  how  much  the  Commission  is 
indebted  to  his  earnestness  of  purpose  and  his  extraor 
dinary  power  of  organizing  labor  in  a  new  field,  it  will 
be  the  business  of  the  historian  to  tell  in  almost  every 
page  of  this  work.  It  is  only  necessary  to  say  here 
that  by  the  public,  to  whom  the  name  of  Mr.  OLMSTED 
was  familiar  as  the  author  of  the  most  complete  and 
philosophical  account  ever  published  of  the  condition 
of  the  Southern  country  before  the  war,  and  as  the 
Director  of  a  great  public  work,  the  successful  manage 
ment  of  which  had  been  marked  by  incorruptible 
integrity,  and  the  rarest  administrative  ability,  his  ap 
pointment  was  universally  regarded  as  a  sure  guaran 
tee  of  the  success  of  the  Commission's  plans. 

The  original  qualities  of  Mr.  OLMSTED'S  mind  as 
well  as  his  peculiar  training  gave  him,  in  truth,  some 
very  great  advantages  in  the  novel  and  extraordinary 
position  to  which  he  had  been  called.  The  theory  of 
the  Commission  in  regard  to  its  relations  -with  the 
Nation  between  ^overnment  had  been  from  the  first,  that  it 
the  Government  would  carefully  avoid  doing  any  thing  to 

and  the  Commis-    •  •        ,  i 

pioni  impair  the  responsibilities  of  Government 

officials,  or  undertake  in  any  way  to  perform  duties 
which  rightly  belonged  to  them.  In  its  view  the 
Government  machinery  was  the  true  and  proper  agency 
for  performing  the  Government  work.  If  that  machi 
nery  was  found  defective  or  unable  to  accomplish  what 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  SANITARY  COMMISSION.        77 

the  novel  circumstances  of  the  times  demanded,  then 
its  business  was  to  urge  in  the  proper  quarter  that  the 
machinery  might  be  so  enlarged  or  modified  as  to  suit 
the  emergency.  But  the  Commission  always  scrupu 
lously  avoided  interfering  with  Government  farther 
than  to  proffer  its  aid.  In  other  words,  it  sought  to 
do  its  work  through  Government  channels,  and  by 
means  of  existing  Government  agencies.  Its  whole 
system  of  Inspection,  of  Relief,  General  and  Special, 
and  of  the  distribution  of  Hospital  supplies,  and 
indeed  its  whole  organization,  was  based  on  this  theory. 
Its  object  was  to  supplement  Government  deficiencies, 
not  in  any  way  to  substitute  itself  for  the  Govern 
ment  organization  ;  but  on  the  contrary  to  endeavor  to 
secure  from  every  Government  official  the  full  measure 
of  his  responsibility.  The  delicate  and  difficult  task 
of  determining  exactly  where  the  Government  respon 
sibility  ended,  and  that  of  the  Commission  began,  de 
volved  practically  upon  its  General  Secretary,  who  was 
charged  with  the  administration  of  its  executive  ser 
vice.  Any  mistake  in  this  matter  at  the  outset  would 
have  been  fatal  to  all  hope  of  success ;  nothing  but 
constant  collision,  resulting  at  last  in  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Commission  from  the  field,  would  have  marked  any 
unwise  interference  with  the  details  of  the  recognized 
usages  and  regulations  of  the  army.  Fortunately, 
the  matter  was  in  the  hands  of  one  whose  studies 
and  experience  had  thoroughly  trained  him  in  a  science 
little  understood  in  this  country, — that  of  administra 
tion.  The  foundation  of  that  science  is  the  principle 
that  each  agent  of  any  organization  shall  have  his  share 
of  responsibility  for  the  work  exactly  defined,  and  that 


78  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

he  shall  then  be  accountable  to  his  superior  officer 
for  the  thorough  and  faithful  performance  of  that  par 
ticular  portion  of  the  work,  and  nothing  more.  Pur 
suing  this  plan,  and  insisting  upon  its  constant  ob 
servance  by  his  subordinates,  the  General  Secretary 
soon  placed  their  relations  with  the  officers  of  the 
army  upon  the  most  friendly  and  cordial  footing. 
Thoroughly  understanding  the  distinct  field  occupied 
by  the  Government  and  the  Commission,  he  insisted 
that  each  should  maintain  a  proper  recognition  of  the 
other's  work.  The  remarkable  fact,  that  during  the 
whole  war,  there  was  scarcely  a  single  instance  of 
discourtesy  or  official  insolence  towards  men  occupy 
ing  the  anomalous  position  held  by  the  Agents  of  the 
Commission  in  the  army,  is  due  perhaps  quite  as 
much  to  the  constant  observance  of  this  rule,  as  to  the 
personal  character  or  personal  services  of  the  Agents 
themselves. 

The  position  which  the  General  Secretary  occupied 
towards  the  Government  was  a  very  delicate  one  in 
Confidential  na-  another  respect.  It  was  designed  that  he 

ture  of  those  re 
lations,  should  be  on  a  confidential  footing  with  the 

War  Department,  and  this,  of  course,  involved  a  com 
munication  to  him  of  so  much  of  the  plans  of  cam 
paigns  as  might  be  necessary  to  enable  the  Commis 
sion  to  make  due  preparation  for  the  performance  of 
its  appropriate  duties.  It  also  increased  his  responsi 
bility  in  the  selection  of  Agents  who  must  necessarily 
be  with  the  army  without  any  recognized  military 
status,  but  who  nevertheless  must  know  much  of  the 
plans  of  the  General,  and  the  movements  of  the  troops. 
It  was  essential,  therefore,  that  those  men,  in  addition  to 


OKGANIZATION  OF  THE  SANITARY  COMMISSION.      79 

their  special  qualifications,  should  possess  great  discre 
tion,  and  be  of  undoubted  loyalty.  Besides,  the  plan  of 
operations  in  the  various  branches  of  the  service  pro 
posed  by  him  must  receive  the  approval  of  the  War  De 
partment,  and  he  was  to  be  responsible  for  their  execu 
tion  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  conceived.  It  was 
natural,  therefore,  that  he  should  deem  it  essential  for 
the  satisfactory  execution  of  the  Commission's  work, 
that  he  should  control  its  Agents  and  operations 
throughout  the  whole  field.  Feeling  deeply  the  re 
sponsibility  of  his  own  position,  he  knew  that  he  could 
only  properly  discharge  it  by  insisting  that  every  one 
in  the  executive  service  of  the  Commission  should  re 
ceive  instructions  only  through  him,  and  faithfully  re 
port  to  him  the  execution  of  his  orders. 

The  machinery  composing  the  internal  organization 
of  the  Commission  being  thus  complete,  no  time  was 
lost  in  setting  resolutely  to  work  to  perform  Camp  and  Hos. 
the  duties  which  had  been  devolved  upon  it.  ?ital  InsPection- 
The  two  great  wants  at  that  time,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Commission  were  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  condition 
of  the  troops,  so  as  to  ascertain  what  sanitary  measures 
were  most  essential,  and  some  definite  plan  of  raising- 
money  to  sustain  its  work.  It  was  thought  best  that 
both  these  objects  should  be  prosecuted  simultaneously, 
as  it  was  evident  that  an  application  to  the  public  for 
money  would  be  greatly  aided  by  a  truthful  statement 
of  the  actual  needs  of  the  army  as  observed  in  the 
camps  and  the  hospitals  by  competent  and  trustworthy 
men.  The  President  and  Dr.  Newberry  proceeded  on 
a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  camps  at  the  West,  while 
the  other  members  of  the  Commission  undertook  to 


80  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

visit  those  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
Washington  and  New  York.  Before  separating  how 
ever,  they  signed  two  papers,  one  addressed  to  the 
people  of  the  country  at  large,  the  other  specially  to 
the  Managers  of  Life  Insurance  Companies,  stating 
their  plans,  and  asking  for  contributions  to  enable 
them  to  carry  them  into  execution. 

The  whole  policy  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  in 
regard  to  raising  the  funds  necessary  to  a  proper  sup- 
Financial  policy  port  of  its  work,  was  so  peculiarly  Ameri- 

of  the  Commis-  ...  J 

sion,  can  in  its  character,  and  exerted  so  marked 

an  influence  upon  every  step  of  its  progress  during 
the  war,  and  it  resulted  in  such  immense  contributions 
to   its   treasury,  that   the   reasons   which   dictated   it 
deserve  careful  consideration.     It  might  be  supposed 
that  an  organization  called  into  official  existence  at 
the  request  of  the  Medical  Bureau,  having  no  other 
end   or   object  than    to   aid    the   operations   of    that 
Bureau,  making  use  of  Government  channels  only  to 
convey  the  stream  of  popular  bounty  for  the  relief 
of  the  Government  service,  might  naturally  claim  to 
be  supported,  as  are  the  other  branches  of  Government 
work  by  Government  pay.     But  from  the  very  first, 
the  design  of  the  founders  of  the  Commission  was 
settled,  that  it  should  do  its  work  only  on  the  principle 
of  that  voluntary  system  of  organization,  which  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  our  American 
civilization,  and  which,  with  its  free  and  untrammelled 
spirit  has  done  such  marvellous  things  for  the  country 
in  every  department  of  labor.     All  it  asked,  therefore, 
from  the  Government  was  permission  to  work;  the 
inspiration  which  led  its  members  to  hope  for  success 


ORGANIZATION    OF   THE   SANITARY   COMMISSION.     81 

came  from  the  people  themselves,  and  to  that  public 
opinion,  which  is  the  true  sovereign  in  this  country, 
they  held  themselves  alone,  but  always  responsible. 
They  felt  that  they  could  here  undertake  a  task  which 
would  have  been  impossible  in  any  other  country,  not 
merely  because  this  was  a  peoples'  war,  as  it  has  some 
times  been  called,  but  because  experience  had  taught 
them  that  their  task,  so  far  as  enlisting  the  sympathy 
and  support  of  their  countrymen  was  concerned,  was 
comparatively  easy.  It  was  not  necessary  to  create 
any  interest  or  enthusiasm  in  the  cause,  but  simply  to 
win  confidence  in  the  system  which  was  proposed,  by 
instructing  the  public  as  to  the  necessity  of  its  adop 
tion,  as  the  best  means  of  meeting  the  emergency. 

Besides  these  motives  for  adhering  persistently  to 
the  voluntary  system — motives  which  have  been  so 
long  operative  in  the  American  mind,  that  Motives  for  de- 
their  action  seems  almost  instinctive  when  LlnTfupportT 
any  great  organized  effort  is  to  be  made — there  were 
other  reasons  for  an  unwillingness  to  apply  to  the 
Government  for  pecuniary  aid.  Among  others,  it  was 
deemed  essential  that  the  Commission  should  be 
wholly  free  from  that  sort  of  control  which  would 
have  been  the  inevitable  accompaniment  of  depend 
ence  on  the  Government  for  means  to  execute  its 
work.  The  mere  suspicion  that  in  any  way  it  could 
be  made  an  instrument  of  Government  patronage 
would  have  wholly  destroyed  its  usefulness.  Above 
all  things  it  was  important  that  it  should  be  entirely 
out  of  the  reach  of  unscrupulous  politicians,  who,  if 
they  gained  a  foothold,  would  strive  in  some  way  to 


11 


82         UNITED  STATP:S  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 

degrade  it  from  its  high  position,  and  make  it  subserve 
their  own  selfish  ends. 

The  Commission,  therefore,  full  of  faith  in  the  sym 
pathy  and  intelligence  of  the  people,  appointed  its 
Modes  of  raising  Secretary  and  other  officers,  and  prepared  to 
money,  gO  to  work  without  a  dollar  in  its  Treasury. 

It  was  satisfied  that  all  that  was  necessary  to  secure  con 
tributions  was,  not  to  convince  the  public  that  some 
thing  must  be  done  for  the  army  outside  the  Govern 
ment  agencies,  but  that  the  preventive  and  precaution 
ary  measures  which  it  advocated  were  best  suited  to 
promote  the  true  interests  of  the  soldier.  It  was  idle  to 
tell  people  then,  and  it  has  proved  equally  idle  to  tell 
them  at  any  period  of  the  war,  that  the  Government 
could  do,  and  was  doing  all  that  was  possible  or  desir 
able.  The  countless  forms  of  popular  sympathy 
growing  more  clamorous  and  persistent  in  their  offers 
of  relief  as  the  war  went  on,  and  after  experience  had 
improved  the  efficiency  of  the  Government  agencies, 
all  bore  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  irrepressible 
determination  of  the  American  people  to  manifest  in 
some  way  their  direct  personal  interest  in  the  soldier. 
However  defective  some  of  the  schemes  which  grew 
out  of  this  state  of  popular  feeling  may  have  proved 
as  to  the  true  mode  of  affording  relief,  they  all  be 
tokened  the  existence  of  a  spirit  in  the  highest  degree 
creditable  to  the  humanity  and  civilization  of  the 
country, — a  spirit  prompted  by  the  universal  instinct, 
that  it  was  impossible  for  any  Government,  with  its 
utmost  zeal  and  efforts,  to  bestow  that  tender  care 
upon  the  soldier  which  the  American  people  desired 
he  should  receive.  The  task  then  of  the  Commission 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   SANITARY   COMMISSION.     83 

was  limited  to  proving  that  preventive  means  were 
the  best  adapted  to  accomplish  this  general  desire. 

The  difficulty  was  at  the  start  only,  for  no  doubt  was 
felt  that  the  experience  of  a  few  months  of  the  neglect 
of  sanitary  measures  among  the  troops  would  ^^^  V 
afford  the  saddest  and  most  conclusive  evi-  regard  to  the 
dence  of  the  truth  of  the  Commission  theory,  vLtLVstem," 
But  it  was  very  undesirable  that  lessons  of  wisdom 
should  be  learned  at  so  fearful  a  cost.  The  Commis 
sion  endeavored  to  popularize  the  general  elementary 
truths  of  sanitary  science,  and  to  enforce  their  applica 
tion  by  a  picture  of  the  terrible  results  which  had 
followed  the  violation  of  sanitary  laws  in  the  British 
army  during  the  Crimean  and  Indian  campaigns. 
There  was  much  in  the  experience  of  other  countries 
in  relation  to  this  subject  to  discourage  them  in  their 
attempt.  History  shows  that  there  are  no  measures 
upon  which  it  is  more  difficult  to  fix  public  attention, 
and  thereby  assure  efficient  action  than  those  of  a 
strictly  preventive  nature.  While  the  pestilence  is  far 
oif  we  sit  still,  idly  hugging  to  ourselves  the  delusion 
that  in  some  way  we  shall  escape  its  visitation.  The 
general  principles  of  sanitary  science,  particularly  as 
applied  to  armies  are  so  obvious  and  simple,  that  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago  they  were  advocated  in 
England  upon  the  same  grounds,  and  almost  in  the 
same  terms,  as  have  been  employed  in  our  own  day. 
Yet  neither  the  elaborate  works  of  Sir  John  Pringle, 
on  Diseases  in  the  Army,  nor  that  of  Dr.  Lind  on 
the  modes  of  preserving  the  health  of  seamen,  nor 
the  immortal  work  of  John  Howard,  on  Prisons  and 
Hospitals,  had  succeeded  in  gaining  a  proper  recogni- 


84  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

tion  of  sanitary  laws,  and  their  due  administration  in 
the  public  service.  Information  on  the  subject  there 
was  in  abundance;  never  indeed  was  a  scientific  truth 
more  plainly  demonstrated  ;  what  was  needed  was  to 
urge  its  practical  application  to  the  cure  of  existing 
evils. 

The  Commission  wisely  addressed  itself  in  the  first 
instance   to   the   Managers   of  Life   Insurance   Com- 


to  Life  panies,  as  to  men  of  more  than  ordinary 
intelligence  and  influence,  whose  direct  in 


terest  lay  in  fostering  every  well-considered  scheme 
of  a  life-saving  kind.  The  first  contributions  in  large 
amounts  came  from  these  institutions.  The  New 
England  Life  Insurance  Company  gave  one  thousand 
dollars.  This  example  was  soon  followed  by  the 
various  Life  Insurance  Companies  in  New  York,  one 
of  them,  the  Mutual,  having  given  in  all,  nine  thou 
sand  dollars  in  aid  of  the  Commission's  Treasury. 
In  order  to  stimulate  contributions,  and  to  organize 
the  financial  affairs  of  the  Commission  upon  a  sure 
basis,  certain  prominent  gentlemen  in  New  York  were 
invited  to  act  as  a  Central  Auxiliary  Finance  Com 
mittee.*  Through  the  exertions  of  these  gentlemen 
large  sums  were  contributed  by  public  institutions  and 
private  individuals  throughout  the  country,  and  suf 
ficient  money  was  obtained  to  enable  the  Commission 
to  give  its  experiment  a  fair  trial. 

*  The  following  named  gentlemen  composed  this  Committee:  —  Hon.  Samuel 
B.  Kuggles,  Christopher  R.  Roberts,  Robert  B.  Minturn,  George  Opdyke,  Jona 
than  Sturges,  Morris  Ketchum,  David  Hoadley,  J.  P.  Giraud  Forster,  and 
Charles  E.  Strong. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INSPECTION  OF  CAMPS  AND  HOSPITALS. 

IN  addition  to  the  work  of  inspection  undertaken 
by  different  members  of  the  Commission  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  two  competent  gentlemen,  Dr. 
Tomes  and  Mr.  Dunning,  were  employed  to  make  cer 
tain  specific  inquiries  in  relation  to  the  condition  of 
the  camps  at  Fortress  Monroe.  Their  re-  Organization  of 
ports  did  not  cover  the  whole  ground  which  £^2*  °f 
was  afterwards  explored  by  the  gentlemen  engaged  in 
the  great  inspectorial  work  of  the  Commission,  still 
they  formed  the  basis  of  that  work,  and  they  contained 
information  as  to  the  actual  condition  of  the  army 
which  confirmed  the  worst  fears  of  those  who  had  sent 
them  forth. 

Mr.  Olmsted,  assisted  by  Dr.  Harris,  investigated 
the  condition  of  twenty  camps  of  volunteers  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Washington,  in  the  early  inspection  of  the 
days  of  July,  and  his  report  of  that  ex-  w^tT" 
animation  embodies  an  exceedingly  interesting  ac 
count  of  the  condition  of  the  newly-raised  troops  as 
observed  before  they  had  received  the  actual  shock  of 
battle.  In  this  report  Mr.  Olmsted  points  out  speci 
fically  some  of  the  more  obvious  evils  which  attracted 
his  attention.  He  says  "that  a  complete  system  of 
drains,  so  essential  to  the  health  of  the  men,  did  not 


86  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

exist  in  any  of  the  camps,  that  the  tents  were  so 
crowded  at  night  that  the  men  were  poisoned  by  the 
vitiated  atmosphere,  that  the  sinks  were  unnecessarily 
and  disgustingly  offensive,  that  personal  cleanliness 
among  the  men  was  wholly  unattended  to,  that  the 
clothing  was  of  bad  material  and  almost  always  filthy 
to  the  last  degree,  and  that  there  was  scarcely  a  pre 
tence  of  performing  the  ordinary  police  duties  of  a 
military  camp."  There  seemed  to  be  an  abundance 
of  such  food — beef  and  pork — as  the  Subsistence  De 
partment  was  permitted  by  law  to  furnish,  but  under 
the  regulations  no  green  vegetables  could  be  issued, 
and  of  course  none  were  provided.  The  consequence 
was  that  the  army  was  generally  believed  to  be  in 
great  danger  of  decimation  by  scurvy  or  dysentery. 
The  cooking  was  said  to  be,  of  all  the  subjects, 
that  on  which  the  army  most  needed  instruction. 
While  this  ignorance  continued  serious  results  must 
ensue  to  the  troops  from  eating  ill-prepared  food. 
Mr.  Olmsted  traces  in  his  report  all  these  difficulties 
of  the  service  to  their  true  source — the  inexperience 
of  the  officers,  and  the  consequent  want  of  discipline 
among  the  men.  He  says  (p.  14)  "that  he  is  com 
pelled  to  believe  that  it  is  now  hardly  possible  to  place 
the  volunteer  army  in  a  good  defensive  condition 
against  the  pestilential  influences  by  which  it  must 
soon  be  surrounded.  No  general  orders,  calculated  to 
guard  against  their  approach,  can  be  immediately  en 
forced  with  the  necessary  rigor.  The  Captains  es 
pecially  have,  in  general,  not  the  faintest  comprehen 
sion  of  their  proper  responsibility,  and  if  they  could 
be  made  to  understand  they  could  not  be  made  to  per- 


INSPECTION    OF    CAMPS    AND    HOSPITALS.  87 

form  the  part  which  properly  belongs  to  them  in  any 
purely  military  effort  to  this  end." 

The  report  of  Dr.  Bellows  and  Dr.  dewberry  of  the 
condition  of  the  various  camps  at  the  West,  visited  by 
them,  told  substantially  the  same  story,  inspection  of 

^  •[      Camps    at    the 

Everywhere  were  conspicuous  those  tnght-  west. 
ful  evils  which  are  inseparable  from  a  bad  military 
organization,  and  defective  administration.  The  result 
was  a  perfectly  shiftless  condition  of  things  which 
betokened  the  early  demoralization,  if  not  actual 
mutiny  of  the  army. 

The  alarming  state  of  affairs  revealed  by  these 
reports  made  a  profound  impression  upon  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Commission,  and  at  a  session  Action  of  Com- 
held  early  in  July,  it  sought  by  every  ~  «  £ 
means  at  its  command,  to  induce  the  Go-  inspectors, 
vernment  to  adopt  measures  to  avert  some  of  the  more 
obvious  dangers  to  the  National  cause  which  those 
Reports  had  indicated.  It  strongly  urged  that  means 
should  be  taken  'at  once  to  provide  accommodations 
near  the  railroad  station  at  Washington  for  the  use  of 
troops  arriving  and  departing,  that  some  system 
should  be  adopted  by  which  the  soldier  could  trans 
mit  to  his  family  a  part  or  the  whole  of  his  pay,  that 
a  rigid  system  of  camp  police  should  be  enforced,  that 
competent  cooks  should  be  employed,  that  a  stricter 
discipline,  which  should  keep  the  men  out  of  the 
dram-shops  in  Washington,  should  be  maintained,  and 
that  a  liberal  supply  of  fresh  vegetables  should  be 
issued.  Of  these  recommendations,  though  urged 
upon  the  Government  with  anxious  pertinacity,  very 
few  were  then  adopted.  The  extraordinary  laxity 


UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

of  discipline  which  at  that  time  prevailed  in  the  army 
seemed  to  have  invaded  every  branch  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  it  was  not  until  the  terrible  events  of  the 
next  few  weeks  had  demonstrated  the  necessity  of 
discipline  that  it  was  willingly  submitted  to,  and 
thoroughly  enforced,  and  formed  the  basis  of  the 
system  by  which  the  army  under  General  McClellan 
was  re- organized. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  with  the  thorough  know 
ledge  of  the  real  condition  of  the  army  which  the 
The  Battle  of  Commission  had  thus  acquired,  the  result  of 
Buirs  Bun,  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run  could  not  much 
surprise  its  members.  The  battle  itself  proved  the 
existence  of  some  of  the  highest  qualities  of  the 
soldier  among  the  volunteers,  but  the  disgraceful  rout 
and  confusion  with  which  it  ended,  caused  by  a 
panic  and  a  delusion,  and  the  utter  demoralization 
which  followed  it,  showed  plainly  that  the  most 
brilliant  courage  in  battle  may  be  rendered  wholly 
useless  by  radical  defects  in  organization  and  dis 
cipline.  The  Commission,  as  was  its  duty,  had  reiter 
ated  its  warning  to  the  Government  in  regard  to  these 
defects,  but  the  advice  which  it  had  given,  and  which 
it  had  striven  so  hard  to  enforce,  had  been  wholly 
unheeded. 

In  order  to  ascertain  accurately  the  causes  which 
produced  the  fearful  condition  of  things  after  the 
inquiry  into  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run,  so  far  as  they  were 

Causes    of   the  J 

Defeat,  dependent  upon  the  condition,  physical  and 

moral,  of  the  men,  and  to  determine  how  far  the 
result  was  due  to  causes  which  a  proper  foresight 
could  have  guarded  against,  the  Commission  insti- 


INSPECTION    OF   CAMPS   AND    HOSPITALS.  89 

tuted,  immediately  after  the  battle,  a  minute  inquiry 
into  the  whole  subject.  The  nature  and  extent  of  this 
inquiry  may  be  inferred  when  it  is  stated  that  it  con 
sisted  of  seventy-five  questions,  embracing  almost 
every  conceivable  subject  connected  with  the  history 
of  the  battle.  These  questions  were  placed  in  the 
hands  of  seven  Inspectors  of  the  Commission,  and 
answers  were  obtained  from  very  many  officers  and  men 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  battle,  and  these  answers 
comprised  nearly  two  thousand  items  of  information. 
The  questions  referred  to  such  points,  among  others, 
as  these:  the  strength  of  the  Regiments,  their  last 
meal,  the  first  movement  on  the  21st,  (the  day  of  the 
battle,)  the  degree  of  vigor  of  the  troops  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  battle,  and  the  causes  of  exhaustion 
before  it  began;  the  Commissariat  service;  the  extent 
of  the  exhaustion  during  the  battle  and  its  causes ;  the 
desertion  of  their  commands  by  the  officers ;  the  causes 
of  the  retreat;  the  distance  passed  over  in  accomplish 
ing  it;  the  physical  and  moral  condition  of  the  troops 
during  its  continuance;  and  the  extent  and  degree  of 
demoralization  and  its  causes.  The  answers  were 
carefully  collated  and  tabulated  by  Mr.  E.  B.  Elliott, 
the  accomplished  Actuary  of  the  Commission,  and  it 
is  believed  that  there  is  no  instance  in  history  in 
which  the  causes  of  the  loss  of  any  considerable  battle 
have  been  so  thoroughly  sifted  and  examined,  on  the 
spot,  and  within  a  week  after  the  disaster,  and  in  which 
the  minutest  details,  affecting  the  result,  have  been  so 
carefully  preserved  and  their  influence  so  accurately 
noted.  The  facts  developed  by  this  inquiry  have  of 
course  a  general  interest  wholly  independent  of  any 


12 


90  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

question  affecting  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
army.  They  proved  so  clearly  the  inefficiency  of  the 
Government  measures  in  regard  to  the  care  and  dis 
cipline  of  the  volunteers,  that  it  was  deemed  prudent 
to  withhold  it  from  general  circulation  at  the  time.* 
It  was  adopted,  however,  by  the  Commission  as  its 
guide  in  the  renewed  efforts  it  proposed  to  make  to 
induce  the  Government  to  adopt  the  only  true  means 
of  avoiding  similar  disasters  hereafter.  It  clearly 
proved  the  value  of  the  recommendations  made  by  the 
Commission  previous  to  the  opening  of  the  campaign. 
In  certain  Regiments,  the  Second  Rhode  Island  for 
instance,  whose  sanitary  condition,  in  the  largest  sense, 
had  been  reported  satisfactory  before  it  left  its  camp 
for  the  battle-field,  no  taint  of  demoralization  was 
visible.  But  in  regard  to  the  mass  of  the  troops, 
and  especially  such  portions  of  them  as  had  been  noto 
riously  neglected  by  their  officers  ever  since  they  had 
arrived  in  Washington,  it  was  very  evident  that  their 
utter  demoralization  could  be  clearly  traced  to  this  ne 
glect.  For  in  such  Regiments  the  depressing  effect 
of  long  abstinence  from  food,  exhaustion  before  the 
battle,  an  over-tasking  of  their  physical  powers  in  it, 
and  the  horrors  of  the  retreat  were  wholly  unchecked 
by  the  force  of  discipline.  The  men  who  had  never 
been  taught  their  duty  as  soldiers,  now  became  a 
hungry  and  ferocious  mob.  The  streets  of  Washing 
ton  presented  a  strange  aspect  for  some  days  after  the 
battle,  and  no  where  has  the  painful  scene  been  better 
described  than  in  this  report  of  Mr.  Olmsted.  "The 

*  It  now  forms  Document  No.  28  of  the  Commission  and  is  accessible  to  the 
public. 


INSPECTION   OF   CAMPS   AND    HOSPITALS.  91 

appearance  of  the  streets,"  he  says,  "was  in  the 
strongest  possible  contrast  to  that  which  could  be 
imagined  of  a  city  placed  by  a  strong  necessity  under 
the  severe  control  of  an  effective  military  discipline. 
Groups  of  men  wearing  parts  of  military  uniforms 
and  some  of  them  with  muskets  were  indeed  to  be 
seen ;  but  upon  second  sight  they  did  not  appear  to  be 
soldiers.  Rather  they  were  a  most  woe-begone  rabble, 
which  had  perhaps  clothed  itself  with  the  garments 
of  dead  soldiers  left  on  a  hard-fought  battle-field.  No 
two  were  dressed  completely  alike ;  some  were  without 
caps,  others  without  coats,  others  without  shoes.  All 
were  alike  excessively  dirty,  unshaven,  unkempt,  and 
dank  with  dew.  The  groups  were  formed  around  fires 
made  in  the  streets,  of  boards  wrenched  from  citizens7 
fences.  Some  were  still  asleep,  at  full  length  in  the 
gutters  and  on  door  steps,  or  sitting  on  the  curbstone 
resting  their  heads  against  the  lamp-posts.  Others 
were  evidently  begging  for  food  at  house-doors.  Some 
appeared  ferocious,  others  only  sick  and  dejected,  all 
excessively  weak,  hungry,  and  selfish.  There  was  no 
apparent  organization:  no  officers  were  seen  among 
them,  seldom  even  a  non-commissioned  officer.  At 
Willard's  Hotel,  however,  officers  swarmed.  They, 
too,  were  dirty  and  in  ill-condition;  but  appeared  in 
different,  reckless,  and  shameless,  rather  than  dejected 
and  morose." 

In  this  alarming  condition  of  things  the  Govern 
ment  utterly  paralyzed  and  helpless,  sent  for  General 
McClellan,  and  being  taught  at  last  by  the  Reform  in  the 

,  J  Discipline  of  the 

near   prospect   01  the   enemy  s   advance  to  Army. 
Washington  the  real  danger  of  its  position,  it  invoked 


92  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

for  its  salvation  that  spirit  of  discipline  which  it  had 
previously  so  lightly  valued.     It  had  been  said  that  it 
was  impossible  to  enforce  discipline  among  volunteers. 
General  McClellan,  with  the  cordial  co-operation  of 
the  Government,  now  determined  to  try  the  experi 
ment.      The  result  was,   what  might  have  been  ex 
pected    from    the    uncommon    power    of    organizing 
possessed   by   the   General,    and   the   intelligence   of 
the  troops.      Writing    in    September,    Mr.    Olmsted 
says;— " Ten  times  the  rigor  of  enforcement  in  regard 
to  the  regulations,  that  had  been  previously  used  with 
volunteers,  has  made  the  best  of  an  ineffective  system, 
and  shown  what  might  have  been  done  with  volun 
teers  before  July.     Even  the  demoralized  Regiments, 
with  but  very  few  exceptions,  are  now  in  better  con 
dition,  better  spirit,  in  better  health,  than  they  were 
when  they  received  the  order  for  the  advance  to  Bull 
Run.      The   very   measures   which   the    Commission 
urged,  which  it  was  said  could  not  be  enforced,  would 
not  be  submitted  to,  and  would  be  useless  with  volun 
teers,  are  now  rigidly  enforced,  are  submitted  to  with 
manifest  satisfaction  by  volunteers  and  are  obviously 
producing  the  most  beneficent  results,  and  this  equally 
in  the  new  and  in  the  older  Regiments.     The  most 
exact  disciplinarians  are  the  favorites  of  the  volun 
teers;    the  best  disciplined  Regiments  are  the  most 
contented  Regiments." 

The  lesson  taught  by  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run  was 
unquestionably  the  most  wholesome  lesson  learned  by 
Lessons  taught  tne  people  of  the  North  during  the  whole 
by  the  defeat,  war— but  in  our  gratitude,  when  we  remem 
ber  that  its  stern  teachings  first  settled  the  real  duties 


INSPECTION    OF   CAMPS   AND    HOSPITALS.  93 

and  position  of  the  soldier,  and  placed  the  relations 
of  the  Government  towards  him  on  a  juster  and  more 
rational  basis,  and  forever  scattered  to  the  winds  the 
poisonous  doctrines  with  which  the  public  mind  and 
conscience  had  been  drugged,  we  should  not  forget  the 
fearful  cost  of  blood  and  national  humiliation  at 
which  that  lesson  had  been  learned. 

While  the  army  was  being  re-organized  under 
General  McClellan,  several  subjects  more  immediately 
connected  with  the  health  of  troops  de-  Condition  of  the 

~  .      .  Military     Hos- 

manded  the  attention  ot  the  Commission.  pitais, 
In  no  Department  of  the  Government  were  its  pre 
parations  less  suited  to  meet  the  emergency  than  in 
that  of  the  Military  Hospitals.  At  the  outset,  from 
the  necessity  of  the  case,  buildings  constructed  for 
totally  different  purposes  were  converted  into  Hos 
pitals,  and  in  the  important  matters  of  location, 
ventilation,  accommodation  for  the  patients  in  the 
wards,  and  conveniences  outside  of  them,  these  build 
ings  combined  those  conditions  which  have  been 
recognized  by  modern  science  as  most  unfavorable  to 
the  recovery  of  the  sick.  The  attendants,  the  nurses, 
and  the  administrative  staff  generally,  of  those  at 
least  in  the  vicinity  of  Washington,  were  so  un 
qualified  for  their  positions,  that  any  civil  hospital 
under  such  a  management,  would  have  been  con 
sidered  a  disgrace  to  the  science  and  humanity  of 
the  country.  This  condition  was  made  so  apparent 
from  an  investigation  made  by  Dr.  Van  Buren  and 
Dr.  Agnew,  two  of  the  most  competent  observers  in 
the  country,  in  the  latter  part  of  July,  that  the  Com 
mission  thought  it  its  duty  to  protest  against  its  con- 


94  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

tinuance,  and  to  advise  the  Government  to  erect 
Hospitals  specially  adapted  for  the  proper  accommo 
dation  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  It  was  recom 
mended  that  arrangements  should  be  made  in  them 
for  the  reception  of  fifteen  thousand  patients.  These 
Hospitals  were  to  be  built  according  to  what  is  known 
as  the  "Pavilion  System,"  each  ward  forming  one  of  a 
series  of  detached  wooden  buildings,  capable  of  ac 
commodating  forty  or  fifty  patients,  and  provided  with 
all  the  appropriate  conveniences  needed  by  them. 
The  report  stated  that  this  was  the  best  modern 
system  of  Hospital  construction,  and  if  adopted 
would  save  both  lives  and  money.  The  subject  was 
thoroughly  discussed  during  the  September  and  Octo 
ber  sessions  of  the  Commission.  In  their  efforts  to 
secure  reform  in  this  important  matter  the  Members 
of  the  Board  had  the  hearty  co-operation  of  those 
Government  officials  to  whose  special  Department, 
the  execution  of  the  plans  for  these  Hospitals  when 
approved  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  would  be  assigned. 
General  Meigs,  Quartermaster-General,  General  Van 
Vliet,  Quartermaster  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  Dr.  Tripler,  the  Medical  Director  of  that  army, 
were  all  present  during  these  discussions.  They 
exhibited  the  greatest  interest  in  the  subject  and 
requested  the  Commission  to  submit  drawings  and 
plans  of  buildings  such  as  it  would  approve  for 
Plans  for  Hospi-  Hospital  purposes.  On  the  26th  of  Sep- 

^ep'aredby11!8  tember>  these  Plans>  prepared  under  the 
Commission,  direction  of  a  Committee  consisting  of  Dr. 
Gibbs,  Dr.  Van  Buren,  and  Dr.  Agnew,  were  sent  to 
the  Government  authorities.  The  subject  was  again 


INSPECTION    OF    CAMPS    AND    HOSPITALS.  95 

further  discussed  during  the  October  session,  and  by 
the  close  of  that  month,  the  Commission  had  the 
satisfaction  of  learning  that  the  plans  submitted  by  it 
had  been  finally  adopted  by  the  Secretary  of  War 
with  some  slight  modifications.  The  Government 
seemed  disposed  in  this  instance  to  invoke  the  direct 
aid  and  counsel  of  the  Commission  in  a  greater  degree 
than  it  had  ever  done  before.  The  War  Department 
not  only  adopted  the  Commission's  plans  as  a  whole, 
but  they  requested  certain  of  its  members,  supposed 
to  possess  special  qualifications,  to  aid  its  own  officers 
in  the  selection  of  sites  for  five  model  Hospitals  which 
were  afterwards  erected  in  accordance  with  these  plans. 
For  once,  the  suggestions  of  the  Commission  were  met 
with  a  frank,  cordial,  and  generous  spirit  on  the  part 
of  the  Government. 

Thus  was  inaugurated  that  great  Hospital  system, 
one  of  the  noblest  triumphs  of  the  war,  making  slow 
progress  indeed  until  after  the  re-organization  of  the 
Medical  Bureau,  but  afterwards,  when  fully  Eesult  of  the 
developed,  resulting  in  the  erection  of  build-  New  System, 
ings  upon  substantially  the  same  plans  as  those  first 
adopted,  at  all  points  where  General  Military  Hospi 
tals  were  located.  The  arrangements  thus  made  for 
the  care  of  the  vast  number  of  sick  and  wounded  of 
the  army  were  on  a  scale  unprecedented  in  history, 
not  only  in  their  vastness,  but  in  their  fulfillment  of 
all  the  requirements  of  humanity  and  science.  The 
result  has  been,  as  is  well  known,  a  far  lower  rate  of 
mortality  here  during  the  war  than  has  ever  been 
observed  in  the  Military  Hospitals  of  other  countries, 
and  it  is  well  worthy  of  consideration  how  far  this 


96  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

result,  so  gratifying  to  our  National  pride  and  to  our 
instincts  of  humanity,  is  due  to  the  early,  persistent, 
and  at  last  successful  efforts  of  the  Sanitary  Commis 
sion  to  induce  the  Government  to  make  suitable 
arrangements  for  the  reception  and  care  of  the  sick 
and  wounded  of  the  army. 

The  Commission,  while  striving  to  settle  upon  a 
proper  basis  this  momentous  question,  had  not  ne- 
c-  giected  measures  looking  to  the  gradual 
development  of  that  part  of  their  plan  from 
the  faithful  execution  of  which  they  antici 
pated  the  most  permanent  and  satisfactory  results — the 
Inspection  of  Camps  and  Hospitals.  The  preliminary 
surveys  which  had  been  made,  and  which  have  been 
already  referred  to,  although  far  from  exhaustive  in 
their  character,  had  revealed  so  much  of  the  real  con 
dition  of  the  army,  that  they  confirmed  its  estimate  of 
the  importance  of  maintaining  constant  and  minute 
inquiries  extending  over  all  the  various  armies. 
The  Commission  watched  with  the  greatest  anxiety 
the  slow  progress  of  improvement  in  the  health 
and  morale  of  the  army  under  the  new  system  of 
discipline  inaugurated  and  enforced  by  General 
McClellan,  and  it  sought  to  discover  in  what  way  it 
could  aid  him,  as  well  as  the  Generals  in  command  in 
other  parts  of  the  country,  in  their  efforts  to  promote 
the  efficiency  of  the  troops. 

The  state  of  its  Treasury  having  somewhat  im 
proved  after  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run,  it  was  deter- 
six  permanent  mined  to  employ  six  competent  gentlemen 
^eT'Thdr  ^  Inspectors  of  Camps.  Of  these  Dr.  Buell 
instructions,  was  assigned  to  the  Camps  in  Missouri,  Dr. 


INSPECTION   OF   CAMPS    AND    HOSPITALS.  97 

Aigner  to  Cairo,  111.,  Dr.  Douglas  to  General  Banks' 
Column  in  Northern  Virginia,  Mr.  Dunning  to  Fort 
ress  Monroe,  and  Dr.  Tomes  and  Mr.  Knapp  to  the 
Department  of  the  Potomac.  It  was  of  course  fore 
seen  that  the  first  difficulty  would  be  to  establish 
harmonious  relations  with  the  officers  of  the  Regi 
ments  in  the  performance  of  a  duty  which  was  cer 
tainly  inquisitorial,  and  might  be  deemed  meddle 
some.  The  gentlemen  selected  as  Inspectors  were 
chosen  with  special  reference  to  their  power  of  ren 
dering  the  faithful  performance  of  this  duty  as 
little  unpleasant  as  possible.  They  were  minutely 
instructed  to  observe,  with  the  greatest  care,  all  the 
requirements  of  military  etiquette,  to  advocate  the 
most  exalted  ideas  of  military  discipline,  and  above 
all  things,  and  by  every  means  in  their  power,  to 
magnify  and  make  honorable  the  arduous  and  respon 
sible  offices  of  the  Surgeon.  They  were  furnished 
with  a  list  of  questions,  one  hundred  and  eighty  in 
number,  prepared  and  arranged  with  the  greatest  care 
by  the  Secretary,  assisted  by  those  members  of  the 
Commission  whose  scientific  knowledge  suggested  cer 
tain  special  topics  of  inquiry.*  These  questions  were 
intended  to  elicit  information  of  the  most  exact  and 
minute  kind  in  regard  to  the  actual  condition  of  the 
men.  They  embraced  such  subjects  as  the  site  and 
general  condition  of  the  camps,  the  ventilation  and 
condition  of  the  tents,  the  bedding  and  clothing  of  the 
men,  the  source  and  quality  of  the  water,  the  charac 
ter  of  the  rations  and  cooking,  the  general  discipline 
of  the  camp,  the  character  of  the  Medical  Officers,  the 

*  See  Documents  of  the  Commission,  Nos.  19,  19a. 
13 


98  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

sickness  and  mortality  among  the  troops  and  its 
causes,  and  the  nature  of  the  Hospital  accommoda 
tion.  These  inspections  were  thoroughly  and  carefully 
made,  and  the  study  of  the  facts  brought  to  light  by 
them  convinced  the  Board  that  by  this  means  alone 
could  it  gain  light  to  guide  them  in  the  performance 
of  the  duty  which  had  been  confided  to  it. 

But  such  was  not  the  only  nor  perhaps  the  most 
important  object  had  in  view  by  the  Commission  in 
influence  of  the  instituting  this  system  of  Inspection.  It 

™"u"JE  was  h°Ped  that  the  ASent>  while  Pursuing 
Amy,  his  inquiries  in  the  camps,  would  be  listened 

to  as  an  adviser  also.  The  result  did  not  disappoint 
this  confident  expectation.  It  would  appear,  at  first 
sight,  that  the  Commission  was  attaching  undue  im 
portance  to  this  portion  of  its  work.  To  send  a  body 
of  men,  however  respectable  in  personal  character  and 
attainments,  and  however  inoffensive  in  their  bearing 
towards  those  in  authority,  but  without  the  slightest 
power  to  order  the  removal  of  evils  which  they  might 
-observe, — to  send  such  men  into  a  Military  Camp  to 
•inquire  into  matters  which  involved  the  competency  of 
the  officers  for  the  proper  performance  of  their  duties, 
wo,mld  seem  at  first  sight  a  plan  likely  only  to  excite 
.contempt,  if  not  provoke  insult  from  that  class  of 
•  officers,  who  really  most  needed  advice  and  instruction. 
But  no  such  result  attended  the  experiment.  The 
Inspectors  were  almost  universally  received  with 
courtesy  by  the  officers,  and  their  suggestions  were 
listened  to  with  the  greatest  interest  and  attention. 
The  specific  evils  in  the  camps  which  were  pointed 
out  by  them  might  not  always  be  cured,  but  this 


INSPECTION    OF   CAMPS    AND    HOSPITALS.  99 

was  due  in  almost  all  cases  to  the  same  ignorance  of 
the  proper  mode  of  remedying  them,  as  that  which 
had  permitted  their  existence.  The  want  of  informa 
tion  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  officers  as  to  the 
nature  and  scope  of  their  duties  was  very  extraordi 
nary,  but  the  prevalent  disposition  was  an  anxiety  to 
learn,  as  the  prevalent  feeling  was  a  sense  of  their 
responsibility.  When  some  of  these  men  were  told 
that  their  duties  were  not  confined  to  mere  routine 
drill  and  parade,  and  that  the  same  army  regulations 
which  required  a  Captain  to  instruct  his  men  in  the 
manual,  also  enjoined  upon  him  a  daily  inspection  of 
the  pots  and  kettles,  bedding  and  clothing  of  his 
Company,  their  surprise  was  almost  ludicrous.  The 
suggestion  that  a  Captain  of  Volunteers  was  to  be 
expected  to  perform  such  duties  was  often  indignantly 
repelled;  he  had  not  come  into  the  army  to  keep  a 
boarding-house,  or  act  the  chamber-maid.  But  with 
the  great  mass  of  the  officers,  suggestions  like  these 
led  to  serious  reflection,  and  a  determination  to  per 
form  all  the  duties  of  their  position,  however  unex 
pected  or  irksome  they  might  prove.  Thus  it  hap 
pened,  all  through  the  war,  that  the  system  of  Inspec 
tion,  although  without  the  shadow  of  a  military 
authority  to  enforce  its  recommendations,  proved  of  the 
greatest  benefit  to  the  soldier,  for  if  it  did  nothing  else 
it  taught  the  officers  that  they  were  to  be  the  fathers 
of  their  men,  as  well  as  their  leaders,  and  by  timely 
suggestions  of  their  duty  it  helped  them  to  help 
themselves. 

This  system  of  Inspection  was  maintained  during 
the  whole  war  as  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Com- 


100  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY    COMMISSION. 

General  results  mission's  work.  As  e  very  day's  experience 
inspection.  °  afforded  new  evidence  of  the  value  of  this 
mode  of  prosecuting  inquiry,  it  was  gradually  ex 
tended  to  other  fields  of  labor  connected  with  the 
army  organization,  and  always  with  the  most  favorable 
results.  It  will  be  seen  hereafter  in  what  various 
ways  through  its  agency  vast  good  was  accomplished. 
It  is  not,  perhaps,  too  much  to  say,  looking  back  now 
to  the  full  development  of  its  capacity  as  a  measure 
of  prevention,  that  by  its  means  many  lives  were 
saved,  and  some  of  the  more  obvious  causes  of  disease 
either  forestalled  or  removed.  But  before  the  war 
had  lasted  six  months  the  Commission  was  satisfied 
that  as  an  aid  to  the  Government  in  ascertaining 
exactly  the  nature  of  the  evils  which  impaired  the 
efficiency  of  the  army,  by  teaching  the  officers  the 
importance  of  certain  special  duties  towards  their 
men,  and  in  maintaining,  as  the  representative  of  the 
people  in  the  army  a  perpetual  stimulus  to  the  per 
formance  of  those  duties  faithfully,  it  had  proved  an 
Agency  of  inestimable  value. 

It  soon  became  clear  that  the  Commission,  in  its  dis 
interested  labors  could  not  reckon  upon  the  aid  and 
Relations  with  co-operation  of  the  Medical  Bureau.  It  soon 
Medical  Bureau,  appeared  that  the  Surgeon- General  had  no 
admiration  for  the  Commission,  and  no  sympathy  what 
ever  with  its  methods  of  accomplishing  the  objects  of  its 
appointment,  to  which,  as  we  have  said, he  had  reluct 
antly  consented.  At  the  same  time  it  was  equally 
clear  that  all  the  old  traditions  of  the  army  conceived 
in  a  spirit  which  never  looked  beyond  the  wants  of 
ten  or  fifteen  thousand  men,  and  for  that  reason,  if  for 


INSPECTION    OF    CAMPS   AND    HOSPITALS.  101 

no  other,  wholly  inapplicable  to  the  existing  emergency 
were  to  be  maintained  in  all  their  vigor.  It  was 
hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  gentleman  grown 
gray  in  the  service,  full  of  that  esprit  de  corps  so 
natural,  so  honorable,  and  in  its  place  so  useful  among 
military  men,  who  had  spent  long  years  in  perfecting 
the  details  of  a  service  which  he  conscientiously  be 
lieved  to  constitute  a  well  ordered  system  fully  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  the  army,  should  dislike  suggestions 
of  radical  change,  or  that  he  should  especially  resent  the 
interference  of  so  anomalous  and  unprecedented  an 
Agency  as  the  Sanitary  Commission.  With  due 
respect  for  the  personal  character  and  former  services 
of  the  Head  of  the  Bureau,  the  Commission  plainly 
perceived  that  his  devotion  to  routine  and  his  undis 
guised  hostility  to  their  body  would  render  all  their 
plans  for  promoting  the  health  and  efficiency  of  the 
army  practically  worthless.  The  evidence  of  a  daily 
growing  want  of  harmony  between  the  views  of  the 
Surgeon-General  and  themselves  was  furnished  by  the 
reports  of  all  their  Inspectors,  and  by  their  own  observa 
tion.  After  some  hesitation  the  grave  step  of  request 
ing  the  Government  either  to  remove  the  Surgeon  - 
General  from  his  post,  or  place  him  in  honorable  retire 
ment  was  resolved  upon.  This  measure  was  adopted  by 
the  Commission  on  the  12th  of  September.  The 
Commission  acted  in  this  matter  under  the  conscien 
tious  conviction  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  execute 
the  task  confided  to  it  by  the  Government  unless 
such  a  change  were  made,  and  its  relations  with 
the  Medical  Bureau  placed  upon  a  more  friendly  and 
cordial  footing.  No  such  change  was  then  made, 


102  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

and  the  evils  which  were  deplored  by  the  Commission, 
the  far-reaching  results  of  which  were  clearly  foreseen, 
produced  their  natural  fruit  in  the  total  inadequacy  of 
the  Medical  Department  to  meet  the  claims  upon  it,  a 
state  of  things  which  lasted  until  a  thorough  re 
organization  of  the  Bureau  was  effected  principally 
by  the  agency  of  the  Sanitary  Commission. 

At  the  same  time  the  Commission  made  some  other 
important  recommendations  with  a  view  of  improving 

lenttio^o  the  efficiency  of  tne  service,  and  looking 
secure  Beater  specially  to  securing  the  careful  and  humane 
service!5711  *  treatment  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  In 
these  recommendations  they  had  the  cordial  aid  and 
co-operation  of  General  McClellan,  but  even  his  power, 
vast  as  it  was  at  that  time,  could  not  pierce  the  hard 
ened  mass  of  routine  and  precedent  which  then 
impeded  the  efficient  action  of  so  many  of  the  Govern 
ment  agencies.  It  was  asked  in  the  first  place,  that 
the  General  commanding  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
should  select  his  own  Medical  Director,  who  should  be 
responsible  to  him,  and  not  to  the  Medical  Bureau. 
This  was  rendered  necessary  in  the  opinion  both  of  the 
Commission  and  the  General,  by  the  defective  organi 
zation  of  that  Bureau,  and  its  apparent  utter  inability  to 
appreciate  in  any  true  spirit  the  responsibilities  of  its 
position.  Although  the  application  was  enforced  by 
the  statement  that  the  most  "insufficient  provision 
had  as  yet  been  made  for  the  wants  of  the  sick  and 
wounded  of  that  army,  and  that  it  was  now  too  late  to 
embarrass  the  hand  that  would  seek  to  supply  the 
crying  deficiencies  with  any  other  responsibility  than 
such  as  was  due  to  the  General  commanding," — yet  it 


INSPECTION    OF   CAMPS   AND    HOSPITALS.  103 

was  of  course  contrary  to  all  precedent,  and  was  there 
fore  denied. 

The  Commission  also  asked  that  an  "Ambulaoice 
Regiment"  should  be  created  under  General  McClel- 
lan's  direction,  with  the  utmost  promptness,  Ambuiance  Ee_ 
and  that,  in  view  of  the  utter  want  of  ex-  s^^> 
perience,  the  neglect,  and  even  the  positive  inhu 
manity  of  the  soldiers  detailed  as  nurses,  as  well  as  in 
order  to  secure  the  services  of  all  enlisted  men  in  the 
discharge  of  their  ordinary  military  duties  a  corps  of 
nurses,  men,  and  women  also,  if  deemed  expedient, 
should  be  engaged  for  the  special  care  of  the  sick  and 
wounded.  This  application  met  the  same  fate  as  that 
concerning  the  position  of  the  Medical  Director.  The 
neglect  of  these  recommendations  vastly  increased  the 
horrors  of  the  Peninsular  Campaign.  The  want  of 
proper  arrangements  for  the  transportation  of  the 
sick  and  wounded,  and  the  character  of  the  nurses 
provided  by  the  Government  during  that  campaign 
were  such  as  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  disgraceful  to 
the  reputation  of  the  country  for  administrative  ca 
pacity,  and  for  humanity.  It  is  not,  of  course,  intended 
to  assert  that  this  sad  condition  of  things  arose  from 
any  wilful  neglect  of  duty  on  the  part  of  the  subor 
dinate  officers  of  the  Bureau.  It  was  due  to  that  utter 
inadequacy  of  means  to  the  end  in  view  which  its  chiefs 
were  unable  to  comprehend,  and  to  the  blind  guidance 
which  they  afforded  to  a  Government  which  with  equal 
blindness  was  willing  to  follow  it. 

Finally  the  Commission  asked  that  in  view  of  the 
unreasonable,  and  indeed  illegal,  attitude  assumed  by 
the  Medical  Bureau  toward  a  body  specially  appointed 


104          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 


Complaints  of  a  ty  ^e   president  to   advise   and   assist  it 

want  of  co-ope-    m  * 

ration  on  the  in  its  labors,  its  relations  with  that  Bureau 
ctdBureau,  *  '  sn°uld  be  placed  on  a  basis  of  entire  con 
fidence  and  co-operation,  its  disinterested  counsel 
should  be  received  without  jealousy,  and  its  re 
quests  when  made  in  writing  should  be  granted,  or 
reasons  given  in  writing  why  they  were  denied.  No 
answer  was  vouchsafed  to  this  application,  and  the 
Commission  with  heavy  heart,  but  undiminished  cour 
age,  was  left  to  pursue  its  thankless  task  in  the  cold 
shade  of  Government  neglect  and  indifference.  The 
truth  was  that  the  Commission  had  already  made  it 
self  too  much  felt  as  a  power  in  the  army  to  gratify 
those  in  official  authority,  but  it  was  also  too  deeply 
set  in  the  affections  of  the  people  to  render  an  open 
attack  upon  it  prudent.  It  was  disposed  to  rip  up  too 
many  old  abuses,  to  disturb  too  profoundly  the  self- 
complacency  of  those  who  thought  that  the  most  diffi 
cult  problems  of  the  time  could  be  solved  by  some 
easy  process  of  routine  and  precedent  ;  it  was  far  too 
inquisitive,  earnest  and  persistent  to  invite  the  sym 
pathy  of  those  who  had  so  long  borne  rule  in  the  offices 
at  Washington.  Not  a  word  was  whispered  against 
the  purity  and  disinterestedness  of  the  motives  of  its 
members,  or  the  wisdom  of  its  counsel,  or  the  extreme 
delicacy  with  which  its  Agents  respected  the  acknow 
ledged  rights  of  official  authority,  but  it  was  meddle 
some,  because  it  seemed  determined  to  get  at  the  root 
of  the  evil,  and  very  troublesome  because  it  suggested 
methods  of  reform  hitherto  unknown  to  the  bureau 
cracy  of  the  Government.  Its  members  were,  doubt 
less,  it  was  said,  good  men,  but  they  were  sentimen- 


INSPECTION   OF    CAMPS   AND    HOSPITALS.  105 

talists,  not  because  they  recommended  measures  wholly 
unwise,  but  because  it  was  impossible  for  any  one, 
however  able,  not  thoroughly  versed  in  the  details  of 
the  service,  to  suggest  any  reform,  however  apparently 
judicious  or  necessary,  which  could  have  any  practical 
value.  But  the  members  of  the  Commission  did  not 
look  to  Government  for  encouragement ;  all  they 
asked,  as  has  been  said  before,  was  permission  to  work. 
They  found  their  reward  in  their  own  consciences,  and 
although  humiliated  by  the  evident  want  of  sympathy 
with  their  arduous  labors  manifested  by  the  authori 
ties,  they  looked  with  the  utmost  confidence  to  being- 
sustained  by  that  High  Court  of  Errors  and  Appeals 
called  in  this  country  Public  Opinion, — a  tribunal 
which  does  not  hesitate  to  reverse  very  often  the  judg 
ment  of  Presidents,  of  Secretaries,  and  even  of  Chiefs 
of  Bureaus,  and  force  them  all  at  last  to  submit  to 
decrees  based  not  on  considerations  of  prescription  and 
usage,  but  upon  the  eternal  laws  of  right  and  justice 
and  humanity. 

The  Commission  was  busily  engaged  during  the 
latter  portion  of  the  year  in  introducing  into  every 
division  of  the  army  its  system  of  Inspec-  various  aepart- 
tion.  The  important  questions  concerning  ments  of  th,e 

°    Commission's 

voluntary  contributions  of  hospital  supplies,  work  organized. 
the  extent  and  character  of  the  relief  which  should 
be  given  to  soldiers  in  "  irregular  circumstances,"  and 
the  collection,  arrangement,  and  preservation  of  the 
vital  statistics  of  the  army  were  also  carefully  studied. 
Having  been  thoroughly  considered  in  all  their  aspects, 
and  the  exact  nature  of  the  duty  to  the  Commission  in 
relation  to  them  being  clearly  defined  and  settled, 

14 


106  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

separate  departments  were  created  under  the  general 
organization  of  the  Commission,  which  should  have 
these  subjects  in  special  charge.  The  operations  of 
these  departments  form,  in  popular  estimation  at  least, 
the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  the  Commission's  work, 
and  it  will  be  necessary  therefore  hereafter  to  present 
a  somewhat  detailed  account  of  their  true  scope,  and 
the  methods  by  which  their  designs  were  accomplished. 
We  need  say  here  only  that  their  early  establishment 
in  the  history  of  the  Commission  is  an  evidence  of  the 
thorough  and  conscientious  spirit  with  which  the  work 
was  entered  upon,  and  of  the  broad  foundation  upon 
which  all  its  plans  for  improving  the  health  and  effi 
ciency  of  the  army  were  based.  The  vast  increase  of 
the  army  during  the  first  six  months  of  the  war, 
seventy-five  thousand  men  having  been  called  out  early 
in  May,  and  eight  hundred  thousand  during  the  month 
of  July,  only  made  clearer  to  its  members  their  percep 
tions  of  their  duty,  and  stimulated  them  to  renewed 
activity  and  vigor. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  the  Commission  pre 
sented  to  the  Secretary  of  War  an  elaborate  report  of 
The  commis-  the  result  of  its  labors.*  This  report,  pre- 
Pared  by  the  General  Secretary,  Mr.  Olm- 
sted,  was  as  remarkable  for  the  wide  and 
comprehensive  survey  it  presented  of  the  peculiar 
needs  of  the  newly  raised  volunteers,  as  for  the  clear 
and  definite  statements  it  made  of  what  the  Commis 
sion  had  done,  and  what  it  proposed  to  do  in  aiding  to 
supply  those  needs.  The  report  attracted  universal 
attention  at  home,  and  inspired  the  public  with  confi- 

*  See  Doc.  No.  40. 


INSPECTION   OF    CAMPS   AND    HOSPITALS.  107 

dence  both  in  the  Commission's  plans,  and  in  the  sound 
judgment  of  the  men  who  had  devised  them,  while  it 
extorted  unwilling  praise  even  from  foreign  and  un 
friendly  journals.  It  exhibited  a  picture  of  the  actual 
condition  of  the  army  made  up  from  the  results  of 
nearly  four  hundred  inspections.  The  returns  from 
these  inspections  embraced  every  column  of  the  army, 
and  they  were  carefully  tabulated  by  the  Actuary  of  the 
Commission.  The  Secretary  was  thus  enabled  to  survey 
the  whole  field,  and  to  speak  with  positive  certainty  as 
to  the  real  condition  of  things.  The  important  ques 
tion  of  "  encamping,"  with  its  manifold  ramifications, 
was  thoroughly  examined  by  the  light  of  the  experi 
ence  thus  gained.  Camp  sites  and  drainage,  the  tents 
with  their  poor  material  and  want  of  ventilation,  and 
the  defectiveness  of  the  camp  police  were  treated  upon 
at  large,  and  the  necessity  of  measures  to  improve 
their  condition  pointed  out  and  enforced.  The 
clothing  of  the  men,  their  want  of  personal  cleanli 
ness,  the  defectiveness  of  the  cooking  arrangements, 
and  the  general  absence  of  strict  discipline  in  the  army 
and  its  causes,  were  topics  that  furnished  a  most 
instructive  and  interesting  chapter  of  the  Report. 
The  vastly  important  questions  of  the  prevailing  dis 
eases  in  the  army  with  their  tendencies,  the  hospital 
accommodations,  and  the  qualifications  of  the  surgeons 
were  discussed  at  great  length,  and  with  much  force, 
and  the  grave  defects  of  the  military  administration 
in  these  respects  fearlessly  exposed.  Many  other  sub 
jects  affecting  the  condition  of  the  troops  were  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  Government,  and  the  whole  Report 
must  be  considered  as  the  most  exhaustive  and  autho- 


108  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

ritative  expose  of  the  various  causes  which  affect  the 
true  efficiency  of  an  army  that  has  ever  been  made 
public.  While  the  dangers  of  the  condition  were  thus 
boldly  presented,  the  remedies  for  existing  evils  were 
clearly  indicated.  Not  the  least  characteristic  feature 
of  this  Report  is  the  tone  of  perfect  sincerity,  earnest 
ness,  and  ardent  love  of  country  which  pervades  it 
throughout.  The  Commission  felt  the  responsibility 
of  its  position,  and  while  not  unmindful  of  the  deli 
cacy  of  its  relations  with  the  Government,  it  was  de 
termined  that  no  false  spirit  of  compromise  with  evils 
which  were  poisoning  the  very  life-blood  of  the  Repub 
lic  should  degrade  its  policy.  Perfectly  convinced  of 
the  enormity  of  these  evils,  and  the  possibility  of  the 
removal  of  most  of  them  by  timely  and  judicious 
measures,  and  determined  to  urge  constantly  upon  the 
Government  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  performance 
of  its  duty,  the  Commission  did  not  hesitate  to  define 
thus  the  position  it  occupied  : 

"The  one  point  which  controls  the  Commission  is 
just  this:  A  simple  desire  and  resolute  determination 
to  secure  for  the  men  who  have  enlisted  in  this  war 
that  care  which  it  is  the  duty  and  the  will  of  the 
nation  to  give  them.  That  care  is  their  right,  and  in 
the  Government  or  out  of  it,  it  must  be  given  them, 
let  who  will  stand  in  the  way." 


CHAPTER  Y. 

KE-OKGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUKEAU  AND  APPOINT 
MENT  OF  A  NEW  SUKGEON-GENEKAL. 

THE  early  months  of  the  year  1862,  it  will  be  re 
membered,  were  not  marked  by  military  operations 
which  resulted  in  great  battles,  at  least  on  Military  Expe- 
land.  The  period  was  one  rather  of  prepa-  ^  £  ^ 
ration  and  expectancy,  than  of  actual  con-  1862, 
flict.  The  expeditions  of  General  Burnside  to  Roan- 
oke  Island,  that  of  General  Sherman  to  Port  Royal, 
and  that  of  General  Butler  to  New  Orleans,  were  each 
accompanied  by  Agents  of  the  Commission,  Inspec 
tors  and  Relief  Officers,  who,  as  far  as  the  limited 
means  at  their  disposal  permitted,  endeavored  to  apply 
its  methods  to  the  care  of  the  health,  and  to  the  im 
provement  of  the  efficiency  of  the  men  in  these 
several  armies.  In  each  of  these  expeditions,  the 
troops  suffered  much  from  ignorance  on  the  part  of 
their  officers,  as  to  the  best  mode  of  caring  for 
them  while  on  shipboard,  and  when  they  were  trans 
ferred  to  their  new  quarters  on  land.  A  judicious 
distribution  of  suitable  "Sanitary"  stores  was  made, 
and  many  practical  suggestions  offered  by  the  Agents 
of  the  Commission  looking  to  the  improvement  of  the 


109 


110  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

condition  of  the  men,  were  adopted  by  the  military 
authorities. 

While  the  Commission  did  not  neglect  its  duty  of 
providing  for  the  wants  of  these  distant  expeditions, 
Preparation  and  j£s  chief  attention  was  fixed  upon  plans  for 

distribution    of 

Medical  and  the  general  improvement  of  the  military 
g^aph™,  administration,  so  far  as  it  related  to  the 

hygienic  and  sanitary  interests  of  the  army.  Among 
the  practical  inconveniences  which  had  been  observed 
by  its  Inspectors  in  the  prosecution  of  their  work, 
was  the  want  of  familiarity  on  the  part  of  many  of 
the  Surgeons  with  those  latest  teachings  of  medical 
science,  which  would  enable  them  to  treat  skilfully 
and  successfully  the  sick  and  wounded  under  their 
charge.  The  low  standard  of  professional  ability 
in  the  army  at  that  time,  was  perhaps  unavoidable, 
for  the  Surgeons  had  been  selected  from  civil  life, 
in  many  cases,  with  hardly  greater  care  than  had 
been  shown  in  the  choice  of  the  other  officers  of 
the  Regiments.  Besides,  they  were  called  upon  to 
treat  diseases  in  the  Military  Hospitals,  with  which 
they  had  been  little  familiar  in  private  practice,  and 
under  circumstances  in  which  they  were  necessarily 
unable  to  consult  books  which  might  have  enlightened 
their  ignorance.  In  view  of  this  condition  of  things, 
the  Commission  requested  certain  of  its  Associate 
Members,  men  of  eminent  professional  reputation  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  to  prepare  a  number  of 
concise  treatises,  recording  the  latest  results  of  medical 
investigation,  concerning  those  diseases  which  expe 
rience  has  proved  always  prevail  in  large  armies. 
The  gentlemen  applied  to  performed  their  task  with 


RE-ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   MEDICAL   BUREAU.     Ill 

remarkable  skill  and  fidelity,  and  the  result  was  that 
these  treatises  or  monographs,  embracing  a  com 
pendious  system  of  instruction  on  many  important 
medical  and  surgical  questions  arising  in  military 
practice,  formed  for  the  Army  Surgeons  a  portable 
medical  library,  of  great  value.  These  monographs, 
nineteen  in  number,  were  prepared  at  intervals,  and 
distributed  by  the  Commission  to  all  the  Medical 
Officers  of  the  army.  The  mode  thus  adopted  for 
increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  service  is  another  illus 
tration  of  the  wide  and  comprehensive  views  taken  by 
the  Commission  of  the  nature  of  the  duty  confided  to 
it.  These  little  manuals  were  gladly  welcomed  by  the 
Surgeons,  and  perhaps  nothing  contributed  more  to 
maintain  cordial  relations  between  them  and  the 
Agents  of  the  Commission, than  this  practical  proof  of 
the  enlightened  and  liberal  policy  adopted  by  it,  a 
policy  which  was  prompted  by  an  earnest  desire  to 
help  them  to  help  themselves.  [See  Appendix,  JSTo.  8.] 
But  the  great  work  of  the  Commission,  without  the 
accomplishment  of  which  it  was  felt,  that  all  else  it 
might  do,  would  prove  but  of  partial  and  Re-organization 

,  „ .  . ,       -~  o  f  the  Medical 

temporary  benefit,  was  the  RE- ORGANIZATION  Bureau. 
OF  THE  MEDICAL  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  ARMY.  Its 
members  were  convinced,  that  while  the  existing  sys 
tem  continued  with  its  utter  inadequacy  of  means  to 
the  end,  and  especially  with  the  positive  indisposition 
shown  on  all  occasions  by  its  higher  officers  so  to 
modify  its  arrangements  as  properly  to  provide  for  all 
the  needs  of  the  new  condition,  there  could  be  no  per 
manent  improvement  in  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
wounded.  They  determined,  therefore,  to  strike  at  the 


112          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

root  of  the  evil,  and  to  insist  upon  a  thorough  reform, 
to  be  effected  through  the  legislation  of  Congress. 
There  were  many  considerations  which  induced  them 
to  undertake  the  task  of  urging  Congress  to  pass  such 
a  bill, — a  task  always  arduous  and  distasteful  in  its 
nature,  even  when  the  dearest  interests  of  humanity 
are  involved  in  the  success  of  such  an  effort. 

Aside  from  their  convictions  of  the  absolute  neces 
sity  of  the  measure  itself,  perhaps  one  of  the  strongest 
Motives  for  this  motives  which  influenced  them,  was  a  hope 
^^  that  they  might  be  thus  relieved  from  their 

own  painful  and  thankless  functions.  They  felt  that 
their  work  would  be  in  a  great  measure  completed  as 
soon  as  the  needed  reform  was  accomplished  by  legisla 
tion,  and  when  some  portion  of  that  life  and  energy  and 
effectiveness  which  was  then  beginning  to  be  observed  in 
some  of  the  other  important  branches  of  the  military 
service  had  been  infused  into  the  Medical  Bureau.  Ex 
perience  had  taught  them  the  folly  of  attacking  evils  in 
detail,  while  the  principle  of  the  evil  still  existed  in 
full  force  in  the  system  itself.  If  the  particular  evil  was 
abated  by  their  agency,  yet  other  evils  not  before  con 
spicuous  soon  forced  themselves,  hydra-headed,  upon 
their  observation,  until  they  seemed  to  be  engaged  in  a 
task  not  only  wearisome  and  endless,  but  utterly  barren 
of  results  at  all  commensurate  with  the  labor  required 
for  the  radical  reform  of  abuses.  They  hoped  then 
to  embody  in  a  measure  to  be  sanctioned  by  Congress, 
provisions  which  would  force  the  Medical  Department 
to  do  through  its  regular  official  channels  the  work 
which  the  Commission  had  hitherto  done  so  partially 
and  so  unsatisfactorily.  If  they  could  succeed  in  this 


RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUREAU.       113 

way  in  securing  the  appointment  of  a  Surgeon-General 
who  should  have  some  adequate  conception  of  the  real 
wants  of  the  Army,  and  capacity  and  energy  enough 
to  carry  into  execution  such  a  liberal  system  of  pro 
viding  for  those  wants  as  Congress  might  be  induced 
to  prescribe,  and  particularly  if  a  thorough  system  of 
inspection  could  be  established  and  enforced  by  official 
authority,  they  felt  that  vast  progress  would  have  been 
made  in  accomplishing  the  very  purposes  which  it  was 
the  object  of  their  appointment  to  secure.  Their 
struggles  with  the  War  Department  and  the  Medical 
Bureau  had  been  unceasing ;  their  suggestions  of  re 
form  were  often  unheeded ;  their  warnings  of  certain 
impending  danger  had  induced  no  proper  precautions ; 
they  had  tired  out  everybody  in  authority  with  their 
importunity  for  the  remedy  of  abuses,  and  they  now 
determined  to  make  an  effort  to  give  that  practical 
effect  to  their  plans  by  force  of  law,  which  they  had 
tried  so  long,  and  in  vain  to  do  by  argument  and  per 
suasion.  If  they  could  succeed  in  this  object  they 
would  gladly  return  to  the  Government  the  imperfect 
and  inadequate  powers  which  had  been  conferred  upon 
them,  and  with  entire  confidence  retire  from  the  field, 
placing  the  responsibility  for  the  humane  and  proper 
care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  upon  that  department 
of  the  Government,  where  they  had  always  contended 
it  rightfully  belonged. 

It  will  be  observed  that  at  this  period  the  Sanitary 
Commission  could  have  formed  a  very  imperfect  idea 
of  the  labors  which  the  future  had  in  store  for  it.  At 
that  time  its  system  of  Hospital  and  Battle-field  relief, 
and  many  other  branches  of  its  work  had  just  been 


15 


114          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  full  scope  of  commenced.  It  was  impossible  to  foresee 
wo^rfthen  tlie  grancl  developement  of  its  plans  which 
understood,  was  caused  'by  subsequent  events.  At  that 
time  every  part  of  its  system  was  subordinate  to  the 
preventive  service,  its  treasury  was  low,  its  Hospital 
supplies  which  during  the  war  amounted  to  over 
fifteen  millions  of  dollars  in  value,  were  comparatively 
limited,  and  a  general  impression  prevailed  that  the 
war  would  not  be  of  long  duration.  Hence  the 
thoughts  and  energy  of  its  officers  were  concentrated 
upon  an  effort  to  render  this  preventive  service 
thorough  and  practical,  and  as  the  best  means  to  that 
end  they  endeavored  to  secure  a  re-organization  of  the 
Medical  Department. 

It  should  be  remarked,  that  there  was  nothing- 
unusual  or  offensive  in  thus  directing  the  attention  of 
Defects  in  cer-  Congress  specially  to  the  defects  of  the 
ment  Bureaus  at  Medical  Bureau.  These  defects  were  con- 


spicuous,  simply,  because  it  was  inevitable, 
that  an  administration  which  had  performed  its  work 
creditably  during  the  time  of  peace,  should  be  un- 
suited  to  the  emergencies  of  a  war  of  colossal  propor 
tions.  The  necessity  of  finding  new  means  to  accom 
plish  different  ends,  was  just  as  apparent  in  all  the 
branches  of  the  Government  service  in  direct  relation 
with  the  Army,  as  it  was  in  the  Medical  Bureau.  IsTo 
popular  outcry  was  needed  to  procure  a  complete  re 
organization  of  the  Quartermaster's  and  Subsistence 
departments,  or  of  the  Corps  of  Engineers.  In  each 
of  these  important  branches  of  the  service,  and  in  the 
selection  of  officers  to  command  the  different  armies, 
the  time-honored  principle  of  promotion  by  seniority 


RE-ORGANIZATION    OF   THE    MEDICAL    BUREAU.    115 

had  been  ignored.  The  evidence  was  constant  and 
irresistible,  that  without  some  such  changes  the  Army 
could  not  be  kept  together  as  an  organized  force.  The 
Government  did  not  hesitate  therefore  one  moment  to 
sacrifice  routine,  usage,  and  precedent,  to  what  was 
clearly  the  law  of  absolute  necessity.  The  reason  why 
the  defects  of  the  Medical  Bureau  were  not  at  once  in 
like  manner  recognized  and  remedied,  was  undoubtedly, 
because  the  evils  arising  from  those  defects,  were 
to  persons  unfamiliar  with  the  subject  not  as  obvious 
and  as  immediate  in  their  results,  at  the  outset  of 
the  war  at  least,  as  those  existing  in  the  other 
Bureaus. 

The  mass  of  mankind,  and  particularly  of  those 
called  upon  to  govern  in  an  emergency  such  as  that 
of  the  Rebellion,  concern  themselves  only  Difficulty  m 
with  practical  difficulties.  They  have  per-  2 
haps  too  much  to  do  with  the  troubles  of  the  present, 
to  incline  them  to  take  precautions  against  evils  which 
they  think  uncertain,  or  which  at  any  rate  can  bear 
their  fruit  only  in  the  future.  It  became  therefore  the 
imperative  duty  of  those,  who  had  studied  the  causes 
of  the  inefficiency  of  armies,  to  urge  upon  the  Govern 
ment  the  adoption  of  wise  measures  of  precaution  in 
everything  which  related  to  the  vital  question  of  the 
health  of  the  troops.  Their  business  was  to  instruct 
those  who  seemed  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  ele 
mentary  principles  of  the  subject,  that  it  was  just 
as  essential  to  success,  that  the  health  and  comfort  of 
the  soldiers  should  be  carefully  looked  after,  as 
that  arrangements  for  their  food  and  shelter,  and 
for  selecting  the  most  competent  officers  to  com- 


116  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

mand    them,  should   be    thoroughly   organized    and 
carried  out  in  practice. 

The  history  of  the  Medical  Department  previous  to 
the  war,  is  that  of  a  Bureau  whose  operations  were 
sketch  of  the  confined  to  the  wants  of   fifteen  thousand 
MedS  Bureau6,  men  on  a  peace  establishment.     Its  person 
nel  consisted  at  the  outbreak  of   the  Rebellion  of  a 
Surgeon-General,    twenty-six    Surgeons,    and    eighty 
Assistant  Surgeons.     Of  the  Surgeons  many  were  in 
capacitated  for  all  duty,  and  one-half  were  unfitted  for 
service  in  the  field.     The  average  length  of  service  of 
the  first  thirteen  on  the  list  was  thirty-two  years,  and 
that  of  the  remaining,  twenty-three  years.     By  an  act 
passed  in  1834  a  rigid  examination  of  candidates  for 
the    post    of    Assistant-Surgeon   in    the   Army   was 
made   necessary,  and   many  young  men  of   promise 
were  thus  introduced  into  the  medical  staff.     These 
officers    were    scattered    at    isolated    points    on   the 
frontier,  without  access  to  books,  having  no  contact 
with  their  professional  brethren  in  civil  life,  and  with 
very  little  opportunity  while  their  duties  confined  them 
to  the  medical  care  of  a  single  company  of  soldiers,  of 
improving  themselves  in  a  knowledge  of  that  science 
which  is  perhaps  of  all  others  the  most  progressive. 
At  these  remote  garrisons  they  were  kept  for  at  least 
five  years,  and  the  consequence  was,  that  unless,  in 
rare    and    exceptional    cases,   their   professional    am 
bition  became  deadened  from  the  simple  want  of  a 
stimulus  to  preserve  it  in  proper  activity.     Zeal  for 
professional   advancement    indeed    too   often   became 
subordinate  to  the  interest  which  was  felt  in  questions 
of  military  rank  and  precedence, — petty  subjects,  the 


RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUREAU.       117 

discussion  of  which  in  the  absence  of  loftier  topics 
enlivened  the  dull  routine  of  garrison  life.  The  pro 
gress  of  the  war  proved  that  many  of  these  Surgeons, 
particularly  the  younger  among  them,  removed  to  a 
wider  sphere  of  action,  and  permitted  to  carry  out  a 
more  liberal  system,  recovered  from  the  pressure,  by 
which  their  energies  during  years  of  the  mechanical 
performance  of  mere  routine  duties  had  become  im 
paired.  Some  of  them  indeed  during  the  war  gained 
great  and  deserved  distinction  by  the  executive  ability 
which  they  displayed  in  the  administration  of  some  of 
the  higher  offices  of  the  medical  staff.  Still  the  tendency 
of  the  condition  of  things  by  which  the  Surgeons  of  the 
army  were  surrounded  before  the  war,  was  necessarily 
towards  complete  stagnation  in  respect  of  everything 
which  could  stimulate  a  true  professional  zeal.  Bril 
liant  indeed  must  have  been  the  powers,  and  strong 
the  thirst  for  professional  knowledge  which  could  long- 
have  resisted  the  deadening  influence  of  a  long  exile 
from  the  great  centres  of  science  and  civilization. 

The  operations  of  the  Bureau  before  the  war,  were 
on  a  scale,  and  conducted  upon  a  system,  which  may 
be  inferred  from  the  limited  number  of  the  Limited  scale  of 
members  of  the  staff,  and  the  dispersion  of  LLeTe'tar?8 
the  Army  in  small  detachments,  in  garrisons  along 
our  extensive  frontier.  The  arrangements  existing  in 
European  armies  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded, 
which  had  improved  with  the  increasing  knowledge 
of  medical  science,  and  the  more  general  diffusion  of 
humane  principles,  were  considered  inapplicable  to  our 
limited  establishment.  Our  Medical  authorities  there 
fore,  as  they  had  no  occasion  to  imitate  them,  con- 


118  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

cerned  themselves  little  about  such  improvements.  It 
seems  incredible,  upon  any  other  supposition,  that  de 
ficiencies,  such  as  were  supplied  during  the  war,  could 
have  existed  at  its  commencement.  It  is  perhaps  still 
more  extraordinary  that  any  one  who  was  at  all  fa 
miliar  with  the  subject,  could  have  supposed  it  possible 
that  the  old  machinery,  however  modified,  could  have 
been  made  to  perform  the  new  work  demanded  of  it. 

Before  the  war  no  such  establishment  as  a  General 
Hospital  existed  in  the  army ;  the  military  hospitals 
Hospital  system  were  a11  P°st  Hospitals,  that  at  Fort  Lea- 
before  the  war,  venworth,  the  largest,  containing  but  forty 
beds.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  create  in  the 
midst  of  the  crisis  the  entire  system  by  which  these 
establishments,  so  indispensable  to  the  operations  of  a 
large  army  in  the  field,  are  governed.  There  were  at 
that  time  no  suitable  buildings,  no  trained,  efficient 
and  numerous  medical  staff ;  no  well- instructed  nurses, 
no  regulations  or  arrangements  for  a  suitable  diet  for 
the  sick,  or  provision  for  their  clothing ;  no  properly 
understood  relations  between  General  Hospitals  and 
Regimental  Hospitals ;  no  means  for  supplying 
promptly  proper  medicines,  and  no  arrangements  for 
the  humane  and  careful  transportation  of  the  sick  and 
wounded.  As  we  have  before  said,  patients  were 
crowded  in  the  early  part  of  the  war  into  buildings 
wholly  unsuited  for  their  successful  treatment.  The 
agony  and  suffering  which  were  endured  by  them 
during  the  first  nine  months  of  its  continuance,  owing 
to  the  delay  in  the  construction  of  proper  General 
Hospitals,  can  never  be  accurately  known,  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  over-estimate  it.  The  vivid  recollection  of  the 


RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUREAU.       119 

horrors  of  these  miscalled  Hospitals,  which  were  ap 
parent  at  that  time  to  the  most  careless  observer,  is  all 
that  is  necessary  now  to  justify  the  strenuous  efforts 
which  were  made  by  humane  men  throughout  the 
country,  to  effect  a  radical  change  in  the  whole  system. 
Previous  to  the  war,  there  was  no  organized  system 
of  Inspection  of  Camps  and  Hospitals,  as  a  means  of 
enabling  the  Medical  Department  to  per-  NO  inspection  of 

.  .  ,  ,          Camps  and  Hos- 

form  its  duties  intelligently  and  thoroughly ;  pitais. 
indeed  no  officer,  bearing  the  name  of  Inspector,  or 
invested  with  functions,  such  as  have  been  for  many 
years  considered  indispensable  in  foreign  armies,  could 
be  found  in  ours.  The  greatest  improvement  in  all 
modern  administrative  service,  has  been  the  adoption 
of  a  system  looking  to  the  prevention  of  evils.  The 
true  principle  has  been  ascertained  to  be,  not  to  wait 
until  the  evil  is  developed,  but  to  anticipate  it,  hence 
of  all  services  in  an  army,  that  of  the  Medical  Staff 
whose  business  it  should  be,  not  merely  to  take  care  of 
sick  men,  but  also  to  make  provision,  that  those  in 
health  should  not  become  sick,  requires  the  constant 
vigilance  and  intelligent  inquiry  of  a  thorough  system 
of  Inspection.  By  such  means  alone,  can  the  causes, 
which  threaten  the  health  of  the  troops,  be  ascertained 
and  their  consequences  guarded  against.  Inspectors, 
with  such  functions,  would  seem  to  be  the  eyes 
of  the  Head  of  the  department,  and  in  any  intel 
ligent  administration  of  its  affairs,  their  reports 
would  be  relied  upon,  to  enable  him  to  determine  the 
general  policy  to  be  pursued  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties.  In  no  respect  perhaps  was  the  old  Medical 
Bureau  in  its  attempt  to  apply  its  methods  to  the 


120  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

vastly   increased    needs   of    its   new    position,    more 
obviously  deficient,  than  in  this  essential  particular. 

The  practical  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
Bureau  was  also  much  impeded,  by  its  strangely  com 
plicated  relations  with  the  Quartermaster's  and  Sub- 


with  sistence  Departments  of  the  Army.     To  the 

the  Quartermas 

ter  and  Subsist-  first  of   these  belonged  bylaw,  exclusively 
the   construction    of    Hospitals   and    their 


ments, 


equipment,  the  vital  matter  of  the  transportation  of  the 
sick  and  wounded,  and  the  performance  of  a  number 
of  other  duties,  seriously  affecting  the  sanitary  condi 
tion  of  the  troops.  To  the  other,  the  supply  of  their 
food,  which  in  any  large  view  of  the  question,  as  affect 
ing  their  suitable  alimentation,  was  a  medical  or  at 
least  a  hygienic  matter  of  the  very  first  practical  im 
portance.  The  Medical  Bureau  was  wholly  powerless 
to  control  the  action  of  either  of  these  Departments 
and  so  to  shape  their  policy,  towards  those  who  were 
sick,  or  towards  those  who  being  well,  were  in  danger 
from  neglect  of  proper  precaution  of  becoming  sick, 
that  they  might  receive  the  benefit  of  the  vast  modern 
improvements,  which  have  been  made,  in  this  direc 
tion.  Before  the  war,  while  the  army  was  small,  and 
the  number  of  the  officers  of  the  Medical  Staff  so  in 
considerable,  that  the  Surgeon-General  was  able  to 
detect  the  non-accounting  by  any  one  of  them,  of  the 
most  trifling  article  issued,  the  evils  arising  from  so 
clumsy  a  system,  were  not  very  serious.  There  were 
no  General  Hospitals,  and  therefore  it  was  unnecessary 
for  the  officers  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department,  to 
provide  any  but  the  rudest  form  of  accommodation,  for 
a  small  number  of  men.  There  were  no  large  depots, 


RE-ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    MEDICAL    BUREAU.     121 

filled  with  thousands  of  recruits,  drawn  from  a  class, 
who  lived  comfortably  in  their  own  homes,  and  hence 
the  ordinary  ration  had  produced  no  inconvenience  to 
those  who  enlisted  in  the  regular  army.  But  when 
the  war  began,  the  whole  scene  changed.  Almost  im 
mediately  came  the  demand  for  properly  constructed 
General  Hospitals,  and  a  suitable  alimentation,  for  the 
newly  raised  volunteers.  The  Medical  Department 
was  in  popular  estimation  responsible  for  the  whole 
difficulty,  whereas,  even  had  it  then  been  able  to  see 
clearly  the  evil,  it  would  have  been  powerless  to  provide 
a  remedy.  By  law,  and  by  regulation,  the  Quarter 
master's  Department  was  charged,  as  we  have  seen, 
with  the  duty  of  erecting  and  equipping  the  military 
hospitals.  Its  officers  naturally  hesitated  to  construct 
them  on  the  vast  scale,  and  with  all  the  appliances, 
which  were  called  for  by  those  outside  the  Government, 
who  claimed  to  have  thoroughly  investigated  the  sub 
ject.  The  proper  construction  of  Hospital  buildings 
is  of  course,  a  purely  scientific  question,  understood 
only  by  Medical  men,  who  have  had  practical  expe 
rience  in  the  needs  of  such  institutions.  It  was  not  to 
be  expected,  that  a  matter  so  foreign  to  the  ordinary 
duties  of  the  officers  of  the  Quartermaster's  Depart 
ment,  could  be  properly  studied  by  them,  particularly 
at  the  time,  when  their  strength  was  overtasked  by  the 
immense  labor  required  for  the  performance  of  duties 
more  in  the  line  of  their  ordinary  service.  To  bring- 
about  a  harmonious  combination  between  these  two 
Departments,  to  get  the  Medical  Bureau  in  the  first 
place,  to  see  the  absolute  necessity  for  the  erection  of 
suitable  buildings  upon  a  large  scale,  without  delay, 

16 


122  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

and  then  to  convince  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
of  the  propriety  of  executing  the  plans,  on  the  requisi 
tion  of  the  Medical  Bureau,  was  a  matter,  which  in 
volved  in  the  condition  of  things  at  that  time,  serious 
difficulties,  and  required  most  patient  and  persistent 
effort,  to  accomplish. 

The  utter  absence  of  any  control  by  the  Medical 
Bureau,  direct  or  indirect,  over  the  quantity  or  com 
ponent  parts  of  the  army  ration  was  also  a  defect,  the 
result  of  which  was  clearly  visible  in  the  sickness 
which  occurred  in  the  early  part  of  the  war,  among 
the  new  recruits,  in  consequence  of  the  food  provided 
for  them  being  unsuited  in  its  character,  and  not  com 
posed  of  a  sufficient  variety  of  articles. 

These  were  some  of  the  more  obvious  evils  of  the 
system,  which  existed  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Evils  resulting  Rebellion,  evils  which  soon  made  them- 
from  the  made-  se}ves  feu  jn  the  confusion,  embarrassment, 

quacy     of    the 

Bureau,  and    inefficiency  of  the  whole    service   of 

caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  These  evils  were 
apparent  to  any  one  who  took  the  trouble  to  examine 
into  the  practical  workings  of  the  system.  They  be 
came  more  and  more  painfully  impressed  upon  the 
Sanitary  Commission  every  day,  for  scarcely  a  day 
passed  in  which  some  shocking  instance  of  inhumanity 
and  neglect  was  not  brought  to  its  notice,  which  was 
fairly  attributable  to  them.  It  was  determined  that  its 
duty  could  only  be  properly  performed,  not  by  at 
tempting  to  fix  the  responsibility  of  this  condition  of 
things  on  the  officials  who  had  been  trained  under  the 
existing  system,  but  by  an  effort  to  uproot  the  system 
itself,  as  wholly  worthless  for  the  purpose  in  view.  It 


RE-ORGANIZATION   OF   THE    MEDICAL    BUREAU.    123 

was  proposed  to  substitute  a  new  organization  founded 
upon  some  proper  appreciation  of  the  real  wants  of 
the  case.  Representing  the  popular  benevolence  of 
the  country  towards  the  Army,  and  with  a  full  view  of 
all  the  facts,  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  satisfied 
that  nothing  less  than  such  a  complete  re-organization 
would  cure  the  difficulty.  It  commenced,  therefore,  a 
movement  to  effect  it,  as  we  have  said,  by  Congres 
sional  legislation. 

It  asked  for  certain  specific  objects  in  the  proposed 
change.  It  desired,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  princi 
ple  of  promotion  by  seniority,  among  the  objects  proposed 

by    the   Ee-or- 

higher  officers  of  the  staff,  should  be  aban-  gankation, 
doned.  It  wished  to  see  at  the  head  of  the  Bureau  a 
young  man  of  active  and  vigorous  habits,  and  decided 
character,  with  professional  ability  and  practical  ex 
perience,  which  would  enable  him  to  grapple  with  the 
difficulties  of  the  situation,  who,  while  introducing  all 
the  improvements  of  modern  science,  in  the  humane 
and  skilful  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  would  have 
energy  enough  to  enforce  their  universal  adoption  in 
practice.  It  urged  also  that  a  complete  and  thorough 
system  of  Inspection  should  be  established,  and  that  a 
special  corps  of  Inspectors  should  be  appointed, 
through  whose  agency  the  reform  of  evils  should  be 
faithfully  carried  out.  It  asked  that  General  Hospitals 
should  be  erected,  wherever  needed,  upon  plans  recog 
nized  as  best  by  universal  European  experience,  and 
that  the  construction  of  these  Hospitals  should  be 
superintended  by  officers  who  had  some  knowledge 
of  the  requirements  of  such  buildings,  and  who  would 
exhibit  some  zeal  and  energy  in  executing  the  plans. 


124  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

It  wished  that  the  transportation  service  of  the  sick 
and  wounded  should  be  transferred  from  the  Quarter 
master's  to  the  Medical  Department,  and  that  an  en 
larged  Ambulance  system,  under  the  special  control 
of  that  Department,  should  be  created.  It  was 
anxious  that  a  large  accumulation  of  medicines  and 
Hospital  supplies  should  be  constantly  maintained  in 
the  depots  of  the  Medical  Purveyors,  so  that  the  evil 
consequences,  which  had  arisen  from  the  long  delays 
in  furnishing  such  supplies,  should  not  again  occur. 
It  wished  also  that  some  arrangements  should  be 
made,  by  which  men  who  were  languishing  in  Hos 
pitals  from  diseases  which  rendered  them  incapable  of 
further  military  service,  should  be  discharged  and 
sent  home,  and  that  those  who  remained  under  treat 
ment  should  be  provided  with  Hospital  clothing  and  a 
proper  diet. 

In  bringing  this  subject  before  Congress,  in  order  to 
secure  the  proper  legislation  by  which  the  objects  we 
The  subject  have  enumerated  should  be  accomplished, 
Congress,  the  Sanitary  Commission  was,  as  we  have 
said,  only  the  exponent  of  the  anxious  desire  of  the 
American  people,  who  demanded  the  best  possible  care 
for  the  suffering  of  the  Army.  Its  efforts  were  aided, 
of  course,  by  the  influence  of  many  professional  and 
benevolent  men  throughout  the  country,  and  no  less 
effectually,  though  perhaps  more  quietly,  by  some  of 
the  junior  members  of  the  Medical  Staff  itself,  who 
were  perfectly  aware  of  the  deficiencies  of  the  system, 
and  welcomed  gladly  the  prospect  of  the  enactment  of 
any  law  likely  to  add  to  the  reputation  of  the  corps  for 
efficiency.  Reforms  as  radical  as  those  proposed  by 


RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUREAU.        125 

the  Commission  make  slow  progress,  even  where  their 
necessity  is  most  obvious.  Class  interests  and  vested 
rights  are  always  respectable  things,  particularly  when 
they  are  represented  in  the  persons  of  those  excellent 
men, — excellent  in  their  purity  of  character  and  mo 
tive,  whom  the  proposed  reorganization  would  dis 
place.  It  became  therefore  necessary  to  enlighten  the 
Military  Committees  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  upon 
the  absolute  necessity  of  a  change,  and  to  base  the 
proposed  action  upon  the  broad  ground  that  it  was 
essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  Army. 

It  was  difficult  to  make  Congress  understand,  in  the 
midst  of  all  its  preoccupations,  the  importance  of  the 
subject.  Considerations  of  mere  humanity  Obstacles  to  its 

.  due   considera- 

seemed  to  have  but  little  influence.  It  was  tion, 
generally  admitted/that  the  evils  complained  of  ex 
isted,  but  it  was  said  that  their  importance  and  their 
consequences  were  exaggerated.  To  correct  these  false 
impressions,  the  Commission  resolutely  set  itself  to 
work.  After  all  the  usual  means  of  influence  with 
members  of  Congress  had  been  resorted  to,  consisting 
in  personal  appeals,  the  earnest  recommendation  of  the 
project  by  persons  of  position  throughout  the  country, 
visits  of  influential  deputations  to  "Washington,  discus 
sions  in  the  newspapers,  and  the  like,  the  Commission 
was  at  last  rewarded  on  the  18th  of  April,  1862,  by  the 
passage  of  a  bill  entitled,  "  An  Act  to  reorganize  and 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  Medical  Department  of 
the  Army." 

This  Bill,  although  omitting  some  important  fea 
tures  which  had  been  proposed,  still  substantially  cre 
ated  a  system  for  the  future  operations  of  the  Medi- 


126  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSIOX. 

Passage  of  the  Cal  Department,  which  the  Commission  had 

Bill.    Its  provi 
sions,  striven  so   long  to  secure.       By  this    most 

important  law,  the  appointment  of  the  Surgeon-Gene 
ral  and  of  the  higher  officers  of  the  staff,  was  to  be 
made  from  the  most  competent  officers  of  the  whole 
corps,  thus  ignoring  the  usage  of  promotion  by  seni 
ority.     This  was  a  most  important  step  in  the  right 
direction,  for  if  the  Surgeon -General  could  be  really 
appointed  on  the  ground  of  qualification  only,  as  the 
Bill  directed,  an  efficient  head  of  the  whole  system  was 
secured,  and  vast  progress  towards  a  satisfactory  re 
sult  was  made.     Eight  Medical  Inspectors  were  also 
provided  for  by  the  Bill,  and  it  may  be  here  said  in 
passing,  that  far  larger  powers  of  remedying   evils 
were  supposed  to  have  been  conferred  upon  them  by  it 
than  they  ever  actually  exercised  in  practice.     Provi 
sions  were  embodied  in  the  Bill   in  reference  to  the 
transportation  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  and  to  the 
General  Hospital  administration,  which  experience  had 
shown  to  be  so  much  needed,  and  which  those  who  were 
interested  in  the  subject  had  striven  so  long  and  so 
wholly  in   vain  to  introduce  under  the  old  system. 
The  law,  of  course,  presented  a  mere  outline  or  general 
sketch  of  the  principles  of  the  re-organization  of  a 
Medical  Bureau  such  as  Congress  desired  to  establish, 
for  in  an  administrative  service  of  this  kind,  it  is  im 
possible,  in  a  general  measure,  to  provide  for  all  the 
details  which  clothe  the  skeleton,  and  give  life  and 
vigor  to  the  whole  body.     These  details  based  upon 
the  general  principle  of  the  law,  must  be  the  work  of 
him  who  administers  the  service,  so  that  on  him  de 
volves  a  task  for  any  practical  purpose  quite  as  im- 


RE-ORGANIZATION    OF   THE    MEDICAL    BUREAU.      127 

port-ant  as  that  of  the  Legislature  itself.  Hence  the 
vast  importance  of  selecting  a  man  as  Surgeon -General 
to  set  the  machinery  in  motion,  who  was  thoroughly 
imbued  with  a  sense  of  the  value  of  the  principles  es 
tablished  by  the  law,  and  who  would  be  wholly  in  earn 
est  in  his  desire  to  reduce  them  to  practical  application. 

The  post  was  one  of  singular  difficulty  and  embar 
rassment,  and  yet  of  such  peculiar  honor  and  distinc 
tion,  that  its  attainment  naturally  became  an  object  of 
the  ambition  of  some  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  Medical 
Staff  of  the  Army.  The  Sanitary  Commission  which 
had  watched  with  so  much  care  and  anxiety  the  pro 
gress  of  the  measure  which  it  had  proposed  Efforts  to  secure 
to  Congress,  and  could  at  last  congratulate  5"2ffc5S 
the  country  on  its  adoption,  felt  that  its  task  General, 
was  only  half  done,  until  a  competent  man  was  selected 
for  the  post  of  Surgeon- General.  The  qualities  essential 
to  an  officer  occupying  such  a  position  had  long  been 
the  subject  of  careful  inquiry  and  study,  upon  which 
much  light  had  been  shed  by  the  daily  intercourse  of 
the  members  of  the  Commission  with  some  of  the 
officials  of  the  old  Bureau.  As  has  been  stated,  the 
removal  of  the  incumbent,  had  been  urged  upon  the 
Government  in  September  1861,  upon  the  ground,  that 
he  lacked  the  essential  requisites,  for  the  successful 
administration  of  the  Bureau,  even  as  then  organized. 
Under  the  re-organization,  it  was  necessary  to  seek  for 
a  man,  who  would  thoroughly  develop  in  practice,  its 
salutary  provisions. 

Among  the  officers  of  the  Medical  Staff,  whose  zeal, 
intelligence,and  successful  administration  of  his  duties, 
had  commanded  most  thoroughly  the  confidence  and 


128  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

admiration  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Commission,  was 

Dr,  William  A,    DR.    WlLLIAM    A.  HAMMOND,  at    that  time, 

Hammond.  an  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  regular  Army. 
He  had  been  employed  since  the  outbreak  of  the  Re 
bellion  in  organizing  General  Hospitals  at  Chambers- 
burg,  Hagerstown,  Baltimore  and  Wheeling,  and  his 
appreciation  of  the  wants  of  such  establishments,  and 
the  enlarged  and  liberal  spirit  with  which  he  attempted 
to  supply  their  deficiencies  were  so  conspicuous,  that 
they  could  not  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  In 
spectors  of  the  Commission.  These  Inspectors,  who 
were  Medical  men,  and  fully  competent  to  form  a  correct 
judgment  on  the  subject,  entertained  a  very  high 
opinion  of  Dr.  Hammond's  administrative  capacity 
In  the  reports  made  by  them  to  the  Commission,  they 
spoke  in  unqualified  terms  of  praise  of  the  reforms 
introduced  by  him  into  the  Hospitals  at  some  of  these 
places,  and  of  the  rapidly  improving  condition  of  the 
patients  in  them,  as  due  to  the  measures  adopted  by  him. 
In  this  way,  Dr.  Hammond's  name  first  became  known 
to  the  members  of  the  Commission.  He  was  not  only 
a  stranger  to  all  of  them,  save  one,  but  with  that  excep 
tion  his  existence  even,  was  previously  unknown  to  any 
one  of  them.  As  they  were  searching  in  vain,  among 
the  officers  of  the  Medical  Staff,  with  whom  they  had 
made  acquaintance  in  Washington,  for  some  one,  whom 
they  could  recommend  for  the  post  of  Surgeon-General, 
their  attention  had  been  thus  directed  to  Dr.  Ham 
mond.  Upon  further  inquiry  it  appeared,  that  Dr. 
Hammond  was  comparatively  a  young  man,  who  had 
served  more  than  eleven  years  previous  to  the  war,  as 
an  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  army.  He  had  acquired, 


RE-ORGANIZATION   OF   THE    MEDICAL    BUREAU.     129 

while  in  the  service,  a  very  high  reputation  among  his 
professional  brethren  in  civil  life,  as  a  man  of  science, 
and  of  great  powers  of  original  observation.  A  repu 
tation  of  this  kind  in  an  officer  of  the  Medical  Corps, 
the  period  of  whose  service  had  been  mostly  passed, 
in  garrisons  on  the  remote  frontier,  was  so  unusual, 
that  it  at  once  suggested  the  possession  on  his  part  of 
great  force  and  vitality  of  intellect,  and  a  capacity  for 
broad  and  comprehensive  views  of  policy,  which  the 
long  continued  influence  of  narrow  routine  and  formal 
ism  tends  to  crush  out  of  less  gifted  minds.  It  ap 
peared  also,  that  Dr.  Hammond's  reputation  was  not 
merely,  that  of  a  man  of  science  and  professional  skill, 
but  that  his  career  in  the  Army  had  been  marked  by  the 
faithful  and  successful  performance  of  his  special  duties 
as  a  Medical  Officer,  within  the  limited  sphere  in  which 
those  duties  permitted  him  to  work.  He  had  given  to 
the  subject  of  Hospital  construction  and  administra 
tion, — the  great  need  of  the  time, — more  thought  and 
study  probably,  than  any  member  of  the  Medical 
Staff.  His  opinions  on  this  all-important  matter,  had 
been  in  a  great  part  formed,  or  modified  by  a  thorough 
examination  of  the  great  military  hospitals  in  different 
countries  of  Europe.  He  was  perfectly  familiar  with 
foreign  military  systems,  so  far  as  the  administration 
of  their  medical  service  was  concerned,  and  such  an 
experience  at  a  time  when  it  was  easy  to  see  the  defects 
in  the  existing  system  here,  but  not  so  easy  to  suggest 
the  best  practical  remedy,  would  prove  of  course,  of 
immense  value,  in  settling  the  details  of  the  new  or 
ganization.  In  addition  to  these  essential  requisites  for 
the  position,  he  had  exhibited  a  zeal  and  interest,  in 

17 


130  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

the  reputation  of  the  Medical  Staff  of  the  Army, 
which  was  esteemed  a  very  important  element  in 
forming  an  estimate  of  his  pretensions  as  a  candidate. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  he  held  the  office  of 
Professor  of  Physiology  and  Anatomy  in  the  Univer 
sity  of  Maryland,  and  was  besides  engaged  in  lucrative 
practice  as  a  Physician  in  Baltimore.  Scarcely  a  year 
before,  he  had  resigned  his  position  as  Assistant 
Surgeon  to  enter  upon  a  wider  field  of  duty,  and  to 
prosecute  his  favorite  studies  under  more  congenial 
auspices.  When  the  war  broke  out  he  did  not  hesitate 
at  once  to  abandon  his  Professorship,  and  to  re-enter  the 
Army  at  the  foot  of  the  list  of  Assistant  Surgeons. 
He  had  been  constantly  and  actively  employed  ever 
since,  and  his  great  merit  had  been  recognized  as  we 
have  said  at  a  very  early  period,  by  the  Inspectors  of 
the  Commission.  He  was  besides,  thoroughly  impressed 
with  the  deficiencies  of  the  existing  system,  and  he  cor 
dially  agreed  with  the  officers  of  the  Commission,  and 
other  humane  men,  both  as  to  the  nature  of  the  abuses, 
and  the  necessity  of  making  strenuous  efforts  to  remove 
them.  In  the  autumn  of  1861,  the  Commission  had 
been  thoroughly  convinced  by  the  information  it  had 
gathered  from  every  quarter,  that  he  was  the  best  man 
for  the  place.  At  that  time  it  urged  the  removal  of 
the  existing  Head  of  the  Bureau,  and  the  appoint 
ment  of  Dr.  Hammond  as  his  successor.  Insurmount 
able  difficulties  arose  however,  not  only  from  the  diffi 
culty  of  displacing  the  actual  incumbent,  but  also  from 
a  strong  personal  dislike,  entertained  by  Mr.  Cameron, 
then  Secretary  of  War,  toward  Dr.  Hammond,  a  dis 
like  which  had  its  origin,  it  was  said,  in  an  old  family 


RE-ORGANIZATION    OF   THE    MEDICAL    BUREAU.     131 

quarrel.  It  is  pitiable  to  record,  that  there  were  great 
reasons  to  fear,  lest  the  inefficiency  of  the  Medical 
Bureau,  involving  the  precious  lives  and  health  of  so 
many  thousands  of  our  countrymen,  would  be  perpetu 
ated  on  grounds  like  these.  The  failure  to  secure  his 
appointment  at  that  time  however,  gave  further  oppor 
tunity  for  inquiry,  and  the  evidence  became  more  and 
more  clear,  that  the  first  impressions  as  to  his  peculiar 
fitness,  were  well  founded.  These  impressions  were 
strongly  confirmed,  by  an  event,  which  occurred  about 
this  time.  In  their  efforts  to  procure  the  appointment 
of  a  suitable  Surgeon-General,  the  Commission  did  not 
neglect,  as  may  be  supposed,  to  invoke  the  interven 
tion  of  General  McClellan,  all-powerful  at  that  time. 
No  one  knew  better  than  he,  the  defects  of  the  system, 
and  no  one  was  more  anxious  for  reform,  and  especially 
for  the  appointment  of  a  competent  officer,  as  Head  of 
the  Bureau.  In  a  conversation  with  the  President  of 
the  Commission,  in  which  the  General  expressed  his 
great  desire  to  accomplish  so  important  an  object,  he 
took  up  an  Army  list,  and  going  over  the  names  of 
all  the  members  of  the  Medical  Staff  in  rotation,  dis 
cussed  with  remarkable  intelligence  the  peculiar 
qualifications  of  each.  To  each  one,  subjected  to  such 
a  scrutiny,  some  objection  existed  in  his  opinion,  which 
would  render  his  appointment  injudicious,  until  towards 
the  foot  of  the  list,  he  came  to  the  name  of  Dr.  Ham 
mond.  He  said  at  once,  "  He  is  our  man.  He  is  the 
only  one  of  the  whole  corps,  who  has  any  just  concep 
tion  of  the  duties  of  such  a  position,  and  sufficient 
energy,  faithfully  to  perform  them."  When  therefore 
the  Bill  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Medical  Depart- 


132  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

ment  became  a  law,  the  Commission  felt  itself  justified 
on  every  account,  in  urging  upon  the  President  of  the 
United  States  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Hammond,  as  the 
one  fit  to  be  made,  if  the  provisions  of  the  law  direct 
ing,  that  that  officer  should  be  selected  on  the  ground  of 
qualification  only,  were  to  be  regarded.  Strange  to  say, 
they  were  met  by  an  influence,  which  sought  the  ap 
pointment  of  one  of  the  senior  Surgeons  of  the  staff, 
a  gentleman,  eminent  for  his  long  service  in  the  Corps, 
and  well  known  as  a  model  of  kindness  and  courtesy, 
not  only  by  the  officers  of  the  Commission,  but  by  all, 
who  had  been  brought  in  contact  with  him,  in  social 
and  official  intercourse,  during  his  long  residence  in 
Washington.  But  in  this  matter,  the  interests  in 
volved  were  too  grave,  to  allow  the  members  of  the 
Commission  to  heed  considerations  like  these.  The 
law,  which  they  themselves  had  framed,  as  well  as 
every  humane  consideration,  prescribed,  that  the  only 
test  of  a  candidate,  should  be  his  peculiar  qualifica 
tions  for  the  office. 

Mr.  Stanton,  who  had  been  recently  appointed 
Secretary  of  War,  in  order  to  enlighten  his  conscience 
interview  of  DT,  fully  upon  the  pretensions  of  the  respective 
iTslTeTar^of  can^idates,  and  recognizing  the  part  which 
War,  the  Commission  had  taken  in  establishing 

the  new  system,  sent  to  New  York  for  Dr.  Van  Buren, 
one  of  its  most  active  members,  and  desired  him  to 
come  to  Washington,  in  order  that  he  might  consult 
him  on  the  subject.  In  his  interview  with  the  Secre 
tary,  in  pursuance  of  this  invitation,  Dr.  Yan  Buren 
declined  to  advise  him,  in  his  individual  capacity,  in 
regard  to  the  appointment.  He  told  him  that  the  Bill 


RE-ORGANIZATION   OF   THE    MEDICAL    BUREAU.      133 

just  approved  was  the  creation  of  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission,  which  had  given  the  whole  subject  careful 
study  and  attention,  and  had  also  thoroughly  in 
vestigated  the  claims  of  all  the  candidates  for  the 
position  of  Surgeon- General,  and  could  therefore  speak 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  subject,  that  the  result 
of  their  inquiries  pointed  to  Dr.  Hammond  as  the. best 
man  for  the  place,  and  that  its  members  therefore  urged 
his  appointment,  and  that  his  own  opinion  coincided 
with  theirs. 

The  Commission  was  much  encouraged  by  this 
evidence  of  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Secretary 
to  execute  the  law  in  its  true  spirit,  so  far  as  Appointment  of 
the  appointment  of  a  Surgeon -Gen  era!  was  j^^*" 
concerned.  Amidst  the  clamor  which  then  rai, 
prevailed  at  Washington,  urging  the  selection  of  differ 
ent  persons,  from  considerations  of  personal  friendship 
or  partizan  influence,  it  was  most  grateful  to  observe 
that  the  functionary,  with  whom  the  decision  in  the 
main  rested,  was  seeking  to  perform  his  duty  conscien 
tiously  by  ascertaining  the  real  value  of  the  preten 
sions  of  the  candidates.  This  favorable  augury,  urged 
the  Commission  to  renewed  efforts  to  secure  Dr.  Ham 
mond's  appointment.  The  result  was  that  numerous 
petitions  were  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States  signed  by  the  most  eminent  Medical 
men  in  the  country,  bearing  exalted  testimony 
to  Dr.  Hammond's  fitness,  and  urging  his  appoint 
ment.  These  petitions  no  doubt  settled  the  ques 
tion,  for,  as  the  President  remarked,  it  was  impossible 
to  resist  the  weight  of  evidence  in  his  favor,  given  by 
the  Medical  profession  of  the  whole  country.  The 


134  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

Commission  of  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army  was 
accordingly  bestowed  upon  him  on  the  25th  of  April, 
1862. 

No  one  probably  ever  succeeded  to  a  more  arduous 
and  embarrassing  position.  A  young  man,  taken 
Difficulties  of  MS  fr°m  near  the  foot  of  the  list,  and  pro 
position,  moted  over  the  heads  of  those  who  num 
bered  almost  as  many  years  of  service  as  he  did  of 
life,  could  not  expect  to  find  many  warm  friends 
or  cordial  supporters  among  his  former  official 
superiors.  This  natural  result  was  aggravated  by 
personal  controversies  which  had  arisen  among  the 
different  candidates,  and  their  supporters  during 
the  canvass  for  the  office.  But  this  was  a  small  mat 
ter  compared  with  the  work  which  was  to  be  done. 
The  whole  Department  was  to  be  re-organized  on  true 
principles,  the  capacity  of  the  new  incumbent  for  such 
a  work  was  to  be  tested  to  the  utmost,  and  he  was  to 
prove,  that  the  extraordinary  confidence  which  had 
been  placed  in  him  by  his  friends  was  not  ill-founded. 
The  first  thing  necessary  to  give  efficiency  and  practi 
cal  value  to  his  plans,  was  that  he  should  be  sur 
rounded  by  fit  Agents,  who  appreciating  his  views, 
would  earnestly  strive  to  shape  the  new  policy  by 
them.  The  Bill  had  provided  as  a  most  essential  fea 
ture  of  the  plan  for  the  appointment  of  an  Inspector- 
General,  and  eight  Medical  Inspectors,  whose  business 
it  should  be,  not  only  to  enlighten  the  Head  of  the 
Bureau  as  to  the  actual  condition  of  camps  and  hospi 
tals,  but  who  should  have  also  power  to  enforce  the 
adoption  of  measures  ordered  for  the  remedy  of  abuses. 
It  was  provided  that  these  officers  should  be  appointed 


RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUREAU.      135 

immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  Bill,  so  that  the 
whole  machinery  could  be  put  in  working  order  at 
once.  The  appointment  of  these  officers  was  unac 
countably  delayed.  A  list  of  such  persons  as  the 
Surgeon-General  deemed  competent  for  these  positions, 
selected  from  the  regular  and  volunteer  staff,  had  been 
presented  by  him  to  the  Secretary  of  War.  Still  no 
action  was  taken.  Many  of  the  active  friends  of  the 
measure,  apprehensive  that  it  would  be  shorn  of  all  its 
efficiency  if  incompetent  men  were  selected  for  these 
most  responsible  posts,  were  unceasing  in  their  efforts 
to  cause  them  to  be  suitably  and  speedily  filled.  The 
nominations  wrere  withheld  until  a  resolution  passed 
the  House  of  Representatives,  inquiring  why  they  had 
not  been  made  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
the  Bill.  Meanwhile  a  rumor  became  prevalent  in 
Washington,  that  some  of  these  Inspectorships  were 
to  be  given  to  personal  friends  and  connections  of  pro 
minent  party-leaders  in  Congress.  It  seemed  after 
all,  to  the  sorrow  and  dismay  of  those  who  had  worked 
hardest  for  reform,  that  the  poison  of  political  corrup 
tion  was  to  be  introduced  into  a  body  wrhere  it  wras 
likely  to  produce  its  deadliest  effect.  At  last  the 
nominations  were  made ;  many  of  them  were  of  men 
wholly  untrained  for  this  special  work,  while  that  of 
the  Inspector-General,  was  one  which  experience 
proved,  was  eminently  unwise.  Of  those  suggested 
by  the  Surgeon-General  as  proper  persons  for  Inspec 
tors,  only  four  were  appointed.  Thus  he  was  obliged 
to  go  to  work,  surrounded  by  a  set  of  men  as  confi 
dential  advisers  in  whose  selection  he  had  had  almost 
no  share.  At  the  very  outset  therefore  were  the  plans 


136  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

of  the  Surgeon-General  for  the  improvement  of  the 
service  crippled  by  a  refusal  to  provide  him  with  the 
means  which  he  deemed  necessary  to  carry  them  into 
execution. 

This  controversy  unfortunately  was  the  cause,  or 
at  least  the  beginning,  of  a  want  of  cordiality  be- 
tween  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  Head 
°f  the  Medical  Bureau,  the  effect  of  which  is 
J^LJ^l  th!  dearly  traceable  in  every  part  of  the  his- 
rai,  tory  of  Dr.  Hammond's  administration. 

Into  the  merits  of  this  personal  controversy  it  is  not 
the  business  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  to  inquire, 
farther  than  it  may  be  necessary  to  show  the  bad 
effect  which  it  produced  upon  the  interests  of 
the  sick  and  wounded.  It  will  be  our  duty  to  point 
out,  as  we  advance  in  the  history,  the  manner  in 
which  those  for  whom  the  nation  had  demanded  the 
tenderest  care,  suffered  from  a  want  of  co-operation 
between  the  War  Department  and  the  Surgeon-Gene 
ral.  The  interest  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  in 
this  controversy  rests  wholly  upon  public  grounds. 
As  a  Commission,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
opinion  and  action  of  its  individual  members,  it  has 
refrained  from  defending  Dr.  Hammond,  when  his 
personal  integrity,  or  the  technical  offence  of  exceeding 
his  authority,  were  in  question.  But  it  does  feel  itself 
called  upon  to  vindicate  his  administration  upon  the 
highest  grounds,  those  which  rest  upon  a  belief  that 
it  was  so  conducted  by  him,  that  those  who  suffered 
through  the  casualties  of  war,  received  a  skillful  and 
humane  treatment  unexampled  in  military  history. 
This  is  its  duty,  not  merely  because  the  Medical  Bill 


RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  BUREAU.      137 

was  its  creation,  and  Dr.  Hammond  its  candidate  for 
the  post  of  Surgeon-General,  but  because  it  is  con 
vinced,  that  so  far  as  he  was  permitted  to  act  freely, 
he  did  a  work  w^hile  in  that  position, which  will  always 
be  regarded  by  men  of  science  and  the  friends  of  hu 
manity  as  one  of  the  proudest  monuments  of  the  civi 
lization  of  our  age  and  our  country. 

18 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

HOSPITAL  TKANSPOKT  SERVICE  IN  THE  WEST  AND  IN  THE 
PENINSULAE  CAMPAIGN— HOSPITAL  CAES. 

WHILE  the  Commission  was  thus  striving  to  secure 
the  re- organization  of  the  Medical  Bureau  as  the  best 
Development  of  method  of  advancing  the  cause  of  sanitary 
wewor^avtlie  reform  in  the  Army,  its  plans  for  a  com- 

West,  Dr,  New-  J  ' 

berry,  plete   and    systematic  development    of   its 

work  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  had  been 
laid  upon  a  broad  and  sure  foundation.  Its  affairs, 
in  that  region,  were  confided  to  the  superintend 
ence  of  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  its 
Secretary  for  the  Western  Department.  The  methods 
adopted  by  him  for  turning  the  great  tide  of  patriotic 
sympathy  at  the  West  into  the  channels  of  the  Com 
mission,  were  characterized  not  only  by  true  adminis 
trative  capacity,  but  also  by  a  wonderful  knowledge  of 
the  peculiar  temper  of  the  people  whose  co-operation 
he  desired  to  gain.  The  result  was  a  most  remark 
able  degree  of  practical  efficiency  and  success  in 
the  organization  he  established.  In  commencing 
his  work,  Dr.  dewberry's  ambition  was  a  great 
and  noble  one.  His  mind,  trained  by  habits  of 
scientific  investigation,  had  been  from  the  beginning 
deeply  impressed  with  the  value  of  the  Commission's 

138 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT    SERVICE.  139 

theory  as  the  true  method  of  Army  relief,  and  with 
that  generous  ardor,  characteristic  of  the  higher  order 
of  minds  when  the  full  significance  of  a  great  truth  is 
revealed  to  them,  he  determined  that  all  within  his 
influence  should  share  his  enthusiasm.     That  sphere 
afterwards  became  a  wide  one,  since  it  embraced  the 
whole  Northwest,  and  he  lost  no  time  in  employing 
every  means  of   enlisting   the   leading    men   in  that 
region  in  favor  of  a  National  and  Catholic  system  of 
relief  as  opposed  to  one  founded  upon  local  and  Stateisli 
ideas.     His   plan   was   to  establish  Branches  of   the 
Commission  in  each  of  the  great  centres  of  population 
and  influence.     These  Branches  were  to  be  composed 
of  the  Associate  members  residing  in  the  different  lo 
calities.     To  them  was  to  be  confided  the  task  of  in 
structing  the  public  in  regard  to  the  Commission's  plans 
and  methods,  of  founding  in  every  town  and  village 
tributary   organizations,    and   of    so   arranging   their 
work  that  their  contributions  should  be  sent  regularly 
to    the    Branch    Depots,    and    thence    to   a  general 
depot    for    distribution    in    the    camps   and   in    the 
Hospitals.     With  this  object  in  view,  hoping  to  con 
centrate    all    the   energies    of    the    Western     people 
in  the  execution  of  this  great  work  under  the  same  sys 
tem  and  by  the  same  methods,  Dr.  Newberry  went,  in 
September,  1861,  to  St.  Louis,  wrhere  an  association 
which  had  taken  the  name  of  the  "  Western  Sanitary 
Commission,"  had  been  established  under  the  auspices 
of    General    Fremont.     It  was   found   impossible   to 
induce  the   gentlemen  composing  this  association  to 
abandon  their  independent  organization,  although  they 
professed  a  willingness  not  to  interfere  with  the  work 


140  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  provided  that  the  field  was  fully  occupied 
by  the  Agents  of  the  National  body.  Not  discouraged 
by  the  failure  to  secure  at  St.  Louis  a  complete  co-ope 
ration  with  his  plans,  Dr.  Newberry  proceeded  to 
Chicago,  where  he  met  a  very  different  reception.  He 
had  a  conference  with  some  of  the  leading  men  in  that 
city,  explained  to  them  the  nature  and  purposes  of  the 
Commission,  and  soon  received  from  them  promises  of 
hearty  support  and  complete  sympathy.  "  The  Chi 
cago  arid  Northwestern  Branch"  of  the  Commission 
was  accordingly  formed,  and  entered  upon  the  work 
with  an  earnestness,  and  prosecuted  it  with  a  vigor  and 
success  during  the  war,  which  was  certainly  not  sur 
passed  by  any  of  its  sister  branches.  The  most  im 
portant  practical  result,  however,  of  this  movement 
was  the  gaining,  at  this  great  centre  of  influence,  of 
an  assured  position  early  in  the  war,  from  which  radi 
ated,  during  its  whole  progress,  not  merely  the  warmth 
which  kept  sympathy  for  the  soldier  constantly 
active,  but  light  also,  which  pointed  out  the  best  way  to 
manifest  that  sympathy.  From  Chicago  Dr.  Newberry 
returned  to  Cleveland,  and  established  there  a  Branch, 
which  had  for  its  ablest  and  most  efficient  auxiliary  the 
"  Soldiers'  Aid  Society  of  Northern  Ohio,"  one  of  the 
earliest  of  the  relief  societies  brought  into  existence  by 
the  war.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Columbus,  to  Cin 
cinnati,  and  to  Louisville,  where  he  was  met  by  the 
same  cordial  spirit  of  sympathy  which  had  greeted 
him  at  Chicago,  and  organized  branches  composed  of 
the  Associate  Members  resident  at  each  of  those  places. 
Branches  at  Indianapolis  and  at  Detroit  were  or- 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT    SERVICE.  141 

ganized  about  the  same  time.  At  Pittsburg  also, 
one  of  the  most  important  contributing  depots  under 
the  control  of  the  Commission  during  the  war  was 
soon  after  established. 

The  labor,  skill,  and  judgment  necessary  to  accom 
plish  this  great  work  of  organization  are  very  inade 
quately  represented  by  the  mere  statement  of  Besets  of  Dr, 
what  was  done.     The  Associate  Members  at  J^t^ 
the  West,  like  the  rest  of  the  public,  needed  mg  the  West, 
instruction  as  to  the  nature  and  value  of  the  novel 
and    peculiar    methods    proposed    by    the    Sanitary 
Commission,  and   the  merit  of  Dr.  dewberry's   suc 
cess  is  to  be  tested  not  merely  by  the   capacity  of 
the  instructor,  but  also  by  the  ignorance  of  those  who 
came  to  him  to  learn.     Personal  conferences  with  lead 
ing  men,  the  wide  distribution  of  explanatory  docu 
ments,   appeals  in  the  newspapers,  public  meetings, 
and  various  other  means  of  enlightening  opinion  on 
the  subject  were  unceasingly  resorted  to.     The  result 
was,  that  before  the  end  of  the  year  the  Western  mind 
had  been  educated  into  a  firm  belief  of  the  superior 
value   of   a    preventive   system,  and   of   a   National 
method  of   organized   supplemental  aid  as  the   true 
means  of  Army  relief.      The   continuous  stream  of 
supplies  which  the  Western  people  poured  into  the 
depots  of  the  Commission  during  the  war  is  the  best 
evidence  of  the  earnestness  and  intelligence  of  that 
belief.     The  confidence  of  that  people  in  the  methods  of 
the  Sanitary  Commission  during  the  war  never  wavered. 
It  is  very  clear  that  this  result  was  attributable  in  a 
great  degree  to  the  personal  influence  of  Dr.  Newberry, 


142  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY   COMMISSION. 

and  to  the  skillful  and  judicious  policy  pursued  by 
him. 

Having  thus  organized  the  home  field,  Dr.  dewberry 
proceeded  to  Louisville,  at  that  time  the  Head  Quar- 
He  establishes  ters  of  the  Army,  which  was  to  drive  the 

rebels  out  of  Kentucky.  He  established 
there  the  central  office  of  the  Western 
Department.  The  first  point  to  be  settled  was  the 
precise  nature  of  the  work  to  be  done  in  that  mili 
tary  district.  Dr.  A.  N.  Read  and  Dr.  Prentice  were 
appointed  Inspectors,  and  were  instructed  to  make  a 
thorough  investigation  of  the  condition  of  the  troops 
under  General  Thomas  and  General  Nelson.  During 
the  autumn  and  winter  these  gentlemen  inspected 
nearly  all  the  regiments  in  Kentucky,  and  distributed 
among  them  a  very  large  amount  of  stores.  The  con 
duct  of  these  Inspectors  in  the  discharge  of  their  novel 
and  delicate  duties,  made  a  most  favorable  impression 
in  the  Army.  They  received  from  the  Medical  Direc 
tor  a  public  acknowledgement  of  their  services,  and 
what  was  more  important,  laid  the  foundation  of  that 
cordial  co-operation,  and  entire  harmony  between  the 
Medical  authorities  and  the  Agents  of  the  Commis 
sion,  which  contributed  so  greatly  during  the  war  to 
its  usefulness  and  influence  in  the  armies  of  the  West. 
In  the  meantime,  on  the  first  of  February,  1862,  a 
Soldiers'  Home  was  established  by  the  Kentucky 
Organization  of  Branch  at  Louisville,  and  shortly  after  - 
Soiaiers'  Homes,  war(js  another  at  Cairo,  under  the  special 
auspices  of  the  Chicago  Branch.  These  were  the  first 
of  those  great  resting-places  for  the  feeble  and  weary 
soldier  created  by  the  Sanitary  Commission  at  the 


HOSPITAL   TRANSPORT   SERVICE.  143 

West,  and  they  afforded  on  a  vast  scale,  a  peculiar  and 
grateful  relief  not  surpassed  in  its  value  by  that  be 
stowed  by  any  of  its  numerous  agencies.* 

Military  operations  on  a  large  scale,  calling  for  a 
full  development  of  all  the  methods  of  relief  organized 
bv  the  Commission,  began  in  the  Western  Milita37  opera- 

J  tions  at  the 

States  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1862.  West,  capture 
On  the  12th  of  February  Fort  Donelson,  on  °oni  01 
the  Cumberland  River,  was  invested  by  a  large  force 
under  General  Grant,  and  a  most  obstinate  struggle 
for  its  possession  continued  for  several  days.  The  loss 
of  life  on  both  sides  was  very  great,  and  many  wounded 
were  left  on  the  field.  As  soon  as  the  news  of  the 
victory  became  known  throughout  the  West,  there 
was  manifested  in  all  its  large  towns  and  cities  an 
earnest  and  general  desire  to  aid  in  some  way  in  pro 
viding  for  the  immediate  relief  of  the  sufferers.  The 
Army  which  had  achieved  the  victory  had  been  hastily 
moved  from  its  base  to  the  battle-field,  and  it  was  well 
understood,  that  suitable  arrangements  for  the  care 
of  the  large  number  of  wounded,  thus  suddenly 
thrown  upon  the  resources  of  the  Medical  Department, 
were  impracticable.  To  the  ordinary  difficulties 
which  at  that  time  embarrassed  the  administration  of 
the  Medical  service  at  every  step,  difficulties  due  to 
want  of  experience,  defective  organization,  limited 
supplies,  and  the  absence  of  a  forecasting  preparation, 
there  were  added  those  arising  from  the  impossibility 
of  establishing  General  Hospitals  near  the  scene  of 

*  During  the  war  thirteen  of  these  homes  were  in  full  operation  in  the  West, 
where  more  than  six  hundred  thousand  soldiers  were  lodged,  and  two  million, 
five  hundred  thousand  meals  were  given. 


144          UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

conflict,  which  should  unite  the  conditions  essential 
to  the  proper  treatment  of  the  patients.  The  sur 
rounding  country  was  utterly  destitute  of  all  that 
was  essential  to  such  establishments,  and  it  was 
too  far  from  the  base  of  military  operations  to  render 
it  desirable  on  other  accounts  to  establish  them 
there. 

It  was  determined  then,  by  the  Medical  authorities, 
that  all  the  sick  and  wounded  of  the  army,  who  could 
Transportation  be  removed,  should  be  transported  by  steam 
ers  to  the  Hospitals  on  the  Ohio  River.  At 


in  steamers, 


first  sight  it  would  appear,  that  such  a  plan  was  not 
only  a  wise  and  safe  one,  but  that  it  was  one  compara 
tively  easy  of  execution.  To  move  a  large  number  of 
suffering  and  helpless  men,  upon  the  large  rivers  of 
the  West,  in  commodious  steamers,  properly  fitted  up 
with  all  the  needed  conveniences,  to  well  organized 
Hospitals,  under  skillful  and  careful  superintendence, 
would  not  appear  to  be  a  very  difficult  undertaking, 
and  at  any  rate,  it  would  seem,  of  all  the  modes  of 
providing  for  those  who  had  been  wounded,  that,  which 
would  produce  the  least  discomfort  to  the  sufferers. 
The  theory  was  simple  enough,  but  to  reduce  it  to 
practical  effect,  required  foresight,  and  preparation, 
and  means  of  execution,  which  were  not  then  possessed 
by  the  Medical  Department.  A  service  of  Hospital 
Transports  in  the  special  charge  of  the  Medical 
Director  of  the  Army,  should  have  been  organized  be 
fore  the  expedition  sailed,  and  these  Transports  should 
have  formed  just  as  essential  a  part  of  it,  as  the  boats 
which  conveyed  the  ammunition  or  food  of  the  Army. 
The  Medical  officers  were  not  to  be  blamed,  for  they  had 


HOSPITAL   TRANSPORT   SERVICE.  145 

no  control  whatever  of  the  means  of  transporting  the 
wounded  ;  that  was  the  business  of  the  Quartermaster's 
Department,  which  overwhelmed  with  its  own  special 
duties,  could  hardly  be  expected,  to  give  due  attention 
to  the  organization  of  an  entirely  novel  mode  of  ac 
complishing  the  work.  This  was  one  of  the  countless 
practical  illustrations  of  the  consequences  of  a  rigid 
adherence  to  routine  in  the  early  part  of  the  war. 
The  Hospital  Transport  project  was  then  a  novel  one, 
and  the  official  authorities  were  not  disposed  to  try 
experiments.  Voluntary  sympathy  and  the  organized 
benevolence  of  the  country,  taught  the  Government  at 
Fort  Donelson  a  lesson  upon  the  value  of  this  service 
on  the  Western  waters,  and  the  best  mode  of  conduct 
ing  it,  which  proved  of  inestimable  value  to  the  suffer 
ing  soldier,  in  all  the  subsequent  military  operations  in 
that  part  of  the  country. 

Let  us  look  at  the  manner,  in  which  this  great  scheme 
of  beneficence  was  inaugurated,  by  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission  and  others,  outside  the  Govern-  organization  of 
ment  Agencies.  On  the  receipt  of  the  news,  HosPital  St^m- 

'    ers  by  the  Com- 

of  the  surrender  of  the  Fort,  the  Branch  mission, 
Commission  at  Cincinnati  procured  with  some  diffi 
culty  a  steamer  and  loading  it  with  stores,  gathered 
in  two  days,  suitable  for  the  relief  of  wounded,  pro 
ceeded  without  delay  down  the  Ohio.  The  Boat  was 
accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  the  members 
of  the  Commission  at  Cincinnati,  and  by  some  of 
the  most  eminent  surgeons  of  that  city.  At  Louisville 
they  received  on  board  Dr.  Newberry,  the  Associate 
Secretary,  a  number  of  the  agents  of  the  Commission, 
and  a  further  supply  of  stores  for  the  wounded.  On 


19 


146  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

their  arrival  at  the  Fort,  they  found  affairs  in  a 
most  deplorable  condition.  There  were  two  boats 
in  the  employ  of  the  Government,  the  "  City  of 
Memphis"  and  the  "Fanny  Bullitt,"  misnamed 
Hospital  Boats,  for  they  were  Hospitals  only  as  any 
unfurnished  receptacle  for  vast  numbers  of  suffering 
men,  is  a  Hospital.  The  first  named  boat  had  been 
sent  from  Cairo  on  the  news  of  the  battle.  It 
brought  a  limited  supply  of  such  hospital  stores,  as 
could  be  spared  from  the  Commission's  Depot  at  that 
place,  and  was  accompanied  by  Dr.  Aigner,  the  In 
spector  on  duty  there.  Dr.  Douglas  also,  had  hastened 
down  from  St.  Louis,  and  arrived  about  the  same 
time  with  additional  stores.  Most  of  these  supplies 
had  been  already  appropriated  by  the  ill-provided 
Regimental  Surgeons,  to  eke  out  the  deficiencies  in  the 
land  Hospitals,  so  that  the  Government  boats  became 
mere  places  of  deposit  for  the  severely  wounded,  and 
were  destitute  of  everything,  which  could  contribute  to 
their  comfort,  or  facilitate  their  recovery.  Their  con 
dition  is  thus  described  by  an  eye-witness  : 

"  Some  were  just  as  they  had  been  left  by  the  fortune 
of  war  (four  days  before);  their  wounds,  as  yet,  un 
dressed,  smeared  with  filth  and  blood,  and  all  their 
wants  unsupplied.  Others  had  had  their  wounds 
dressed  one,  two,  or  three  days  before.  Others,  still, 
were  under  the  surgeon's  hands,  receiving  such  care  as 
'could  be  given  them  by  men  overburdened  by  the 
number  of  their  patients,  worn  out  by  excessive  and 
long-continued  labor,  without  an  article  of  clothing  to 
give  to  any  for  a  change,  or  an  extra  blanket,  without 
bandages  or  dressings,  with  but  two  ounces  of  cerate  to 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT    SERVICE.  147 

three  hundred  men,  with  few  medicines  and  no  stimu 
lants,  and  with  nothing  but  corn  meal  gruel,  hard 
bread,  and  bacon,  to  dispense  as  food." 

The  Agents  of  the  Commission,  not  without  con 
siderable  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Medical  Di 
rector,  succeeded  in  obtaining  access  to  these  ^iief  afforded 


boats,  and  several  days  and  nights  were  the  commission, 
passed  by  them,  in  relieving  the  pressing  wants  of  the 
sufferers  by  means  of  the  stores,  which  had  been 
brought  from  the  depots  of  the  Commission  at  Cincin 
nati,  Chicago  and  other  places  in  the  West.  They 
succeeded  with  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  permission 
to  transport,  on  their  return  to  Cincinnati,  such  of  the 
wounded  as  they  were  able  to  accommodate  on  the 
steamer  which  had  conveyed  them  to  the  Fort.  More 
than  eighty  were  thus  brought  by  them  to  a  Military 
Hospital  at  Cincinnati  under  all  the  favorable  circum 
stances  which  a  properly  furnished  boat,  and  the  most 
careful  nursing  could  provide. 

Again,  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  which  took  place 
in  the  early  part  of  April,  the  officers  of  the  Commis 
sion  at  the  West,  enlightened  by  their  ex-  similar  service 

.-.  „  after  the  battle 

perience  as  to   the   proper  mode  ot    trans- 


porting  the  wounded  in  Hospital  Boats,  became  ac 
tively  engaged  in  the  same  humane  service.  The 
extent  and  character  of  this  service,  and  its  inestima 
ble  value  to  those,  who  were  its  objects,  are  well  set 
forth  in  the  following  extracts  from  the  Report  of  Dr. 
Newberry  on  the  operations  of  the  Commission  after 
that  battle. 

"  For  the  space  of  a  mile  or  more  the  bank  of  the 
river  was  lined  with  steamers,  closely  packed  together, 


148  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

loaded  with  troops,  stores  and  munitions  of  war. 
Each  of  these  steamers  was  discharging  its  cargo, 
living  or  inanimate,  upon  the  steep  and  muddy  bank, 
and  soldiers,  forage,  provisions,  clothing,  artillery, 
army  wagons  and  ambulances — the  reinforcements  and 
supplies  of  the  great  army  which  covered  the  hills  for 
miles  around — poured  on  to  the  shore  in  a  noisy, 
turbulent,  chaotic  flood. 

"Immediately  on  hearing  of  the  battle,  the  Chicago 
Branch  Commission,  with  its  accustomed  promptness, 
despatched  a  special  train  to  Cairo,  taking  large  quan 
tities  of  supplies,  and  a  corps  of  surgeons  and  nurses, 
all  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  Patton  and  Dr.  Isham. 
These  reached  the  scene  of  action  on  the  Louisiana — 
government  hospital  boat — on  Friday  evening.  The 
good  which  they  accomplished  by  their  services  and 
much  needed  stores,  can  hardly  be  estimated. 

"The  Cincinnati  Branch  Commission  was  also  most 
creditably  represented  at  Pittsburgh.  Two  first-class 
steamers,  the  Tycoon  and  Monarch,  were  fitted  out  as 
hospital  boats  by  the  Commission,  furnished  with 
every  comfort  and  even  luxury  for  the  wounded,  and 
manned  by  a  large  and  efficient  corps  of  surgeons  and 
nurses.  These  boats  were  under  the  care,  respectively, 
of  Drs.  Mendenhall  and  Comegys.  After  dispens 
ing  with  liberal  hand  of  their  stores  to  the  sufferers  at 
the  Landing,  they  both  returned,  carrying  loads  of 
wounded,  all  thoroughly  and  tenderly  cared  for,  to  the 
hospitals  on  the  Ohio." 

Dr.  Newberry,  with  Dr.  Prentice  and  Dr.  Douglas, 
Inspectors  of  the  Commission,  were  present,  striving 
to  direct  the  zealous  labors  of  so  many  workers,  with 


HOSPITAL   TRANSPORT   SERVICE/  149 

that  order,  regularity,  and  system  which  would  render 
them  most  efficient,  and  most  extensively  useful. 

Thus  it  will  be  perceived,  that  at  Shiloh  the 
Agents  of  the  Commission  held  the  foremost  rank 
as  active  laborers.  The  greater  number  various  aifficui- 
of  the  steamers  which  had  been  sent  to  ties  ^ the  Hos; 

pital  transport 

that  battle-field,  had  been  equipped  as  Hos-  service, 
pitals,  and  furnished  with  the  necessary  supplies  from 
the  depots  of  the  Commission,  while  the  personnel  was 
composed  largely  of  its  officers  and  members  through 
out  the  West.  There  were  also,  as  has  been  said, 
many  boats  not  under  the  control  of  the  Commission. 
The  Government  had  sent  as  many  as  five  or  six  from 
St.  Louis,  which  had  been  almost  wholly  equipped  and 
supplied  by  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission.  The 
truth  is,  the  wonderful  success  which  had  attended  the 
Commission's  experiment  of  transporting  the  wounded 
in  Hospital  Boats  after  the  surrender  of  Fort  Donel- 
son,  had  stimulated  a  great  variety  of  organizations, 
and  even  the  State  Governments,  to  provide  similar 
means  of  relief,  designed  to  be  made  use  of  in 
the  event  of  another  battle,  and  the  occurrence  of  that 
of  Shiloh,  on  the  banks  of  so  large  a  river  as  the 
Tennessee,  caused  the  assembling  of  a  large  fleet,  em 
ployed  on  the  same  errand  of  mercy.  Those  in  charge 
of  these  boats,  had  only  this  in  common,  that  they  were 
acting  wholly  outside  of  Government  agencies,  and 
that  they  all  hoped  in  some  way  to  relieve  suffering. 
Still  the  efficiency  of  the  means  at  their  disposal  was 
much  impaired  by  a  defective  organization,  and  by 
that  absence  of  a  due  sense  of  responsibility  and  sub 
ordination  which  are  essential  to  the  success  of  all 


150  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

associated  effort.  Owing  to  this  inherent  defect,  a  vast 
amount  of  energy,  which  had  been  expended  in  send 
ing  boats  to  the  battle-field  provided  with  a  large  amount 
of  supplies,  and  numerous  attendants,  was  compara 
tively  wasted. 

It  seems  ungracious  to  criticise  the  work  of  any 
body  of  men  engaged  in  an  effort  to  relieve  the  suffer- 
Hospitai  trans-  ing,  even  if  their  methods  are  not  wholly  in 
of rstate  agenT  accordance  with  true  principles,  but  there 
was  one  feature  in  the  mode  adopted  by  those  who 
had  charge  of  the  steamers  sent  by  the  State  Govern 
ments  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  which  was  so 
obviously  wrong  in  principle,  and  so  entirely  in  con 
trast  with  the  National  and  Catholic  spirit  which 
characterized  the  operations  of  the  Commission  at  all 
times,  that  it  deserves  notice.  These  boats  were  in 
tended  solely  for  the  reception  of  wounded  men  be 
longing  to  each  of  these  States  respectively,  and  all 
others  were  rigidly  excluded  from  them.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  the  army  which  fought  at  Shiloh  was 
composed  of  men  coming  not  only  from  all  the  States 
of  the  West,  but  from  other  portions  of  the  country 
also,  that  they  had  defended  with  equal  valor  the  same 
flag,  and  had  suffered  from  the  same  cause,  when  it  is 
further  considered,  that  from  the  nature  of  the  case  it 
was  impossible  that  each  State  represented  in  that 
Army  could  provide  specially  for  the  care  of  the 
wounded  among  its  own  citizens,  the  indiscreet  zeal, 
which  was  willing  to  recognize  State  lines  even  in  its 
ministrations  of  mercy  on  the  battle-field,  can  hardly 
be  too  strongly  condemned.  It  was  only  another  de- 
velopement  of  that  obnoxious  heresy  of  State-sove- 


HOSPITAL   TRANSPORT   SERVICE.  151 

reignty,  against  which  the  whole  war  was  directed,  and 
its  practical  injury  to  the  national  cause  in  creating 
disaffection  among  the  troops  who  were  not  recipients 
of  its  peculiar  care,  was  scarcely  less  great,  than  its 
violation  of  those  sacred  laws  of  humanity,  which 
make  no  distinction  in  the  relief  bestowed  upon  the 
suffering,  except  to  seek  first  for  those  who  most  need 
succor.  Against  this  State-ish  spirit  the  Sanitary 
Commission  resolutely  set  its  face  at  all  times,  and  in 
every  form,  as  hostile  alike  to  the  dictates  of  humanity 
and  true  patriotism.  It  recognized  in  the  Union 
army,  wherever  serving,  Union  soldiers  only.  It  al 
ways  refused  to  receive  benefactions  intended  for  the 
use  of  particular  regiments,  and  the  money  in  its 
treasury,  and  the  supplies  accumulated  in  its  depots, 
were  regarded  as  a  common  stock  to  be  used  for  the 
general  benefit.  It  was  an  organization  wholly 
National  in  its  design,  and  in  its  objects  and  methods 
it  w^as  inspired  by  a  thorough  devotion  to  the  National 
cause  in  its  widest  sense.  Its  influence,  therefore,  ex 
tended  far  beyond  that  which  was  due  to  the  mere 
bestowal  of  relief  on  the  battle-field,  and  the  constant 
efforts  it  made  to  inculcate  a  National  spirit  in  the  care 
of  the  soldier,  produced  an  effect,  both  in  the  Army 
and  the  country  at  large,  which  powerfully  contributed 
to  the  success  of  the  National  arms. 

The  general  policy  pursued  by  the  Governors  of 
States,  and  the  permanent  agents  appointed  by  most 
of  them  in  reference  to  the  supposed  needs  injurious  effect 
of  such  of  their  citizens  as  were  enrolled  in  of  ^-national 

methods  of  re- 

the  Army,  was  a  fruitful  source  of  embar-  lief. 
rassment  to  the  Government  during  the  whole  war. 


152  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

If  the  action  of  the  State  authorities  had  been  confined 
to  efforts  to  improve  the  general  administration  of  the 
service,  and  thus  to  benefit  all  alike,  its  influence  would 
have  been  irresistible,  and  its  effect  most  salutary. 
But  while  convinced  of  the  defectiveness  of  the  Gov 
ernment  methods,  the  Governors  of  the  various  States 
seemed  anxious  only  to  remove  their  own  citizens  from 
suffering  the  evils  resulting  from  them.  The  conse 
quence  was,  of  course,  an  entire  want  of  harmony  in 
opinion  and  action  between  the  Federal  authorities  and 
these  zealous  State  officials,  as  to  the  proper  relations 
of  the  Government  to  the  soldier.  The  War  Depart 
ment  was  constantly  besieged  by  applications  on  be 
half  of  the  different  State  authorities,  demanding  that 
the  sick  and  wounded  should  be  removed  from  the 
General  Military  Hospitals,  and  sent  to  the  States 
from  which  they  had  come,  to  be  there  cared  for.  It 
was  proposed  that  these  men  should  be  treated  in  Hos 
pitals  organized  by  the  State  authorities,  or  in  United 
States  Hospitals  located  within  the  limits  of  the  State. 
It  will  be  readily  perceived,  that  if  applications  of  this 
kind  had  been  listened  to,  the  Government  might  as 
well  have  abandoned  at  once  not  only  all  control  over 
the  sick  and  wounded  of  the  Army,  but  also  all  hope 
of  maintaining  an  effective  discipline  over  those  who 
remained  in  the  ranks.  To  such  an  extent  had  the 
evil  reached  at  one  time,  that  General  Grant  found  it 
necessary,  during  his  great  expedition  against  Vicks- 
burg,  to  prohibit  the  transportation  of  men  in  his 
Army  disabled  by  wounds  or  sickness  to  any  point 
north  of  Memphis.  Thus  only  could  he  hope  to 
retain  the  services  of  those  who  might  regain  their 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT   SERVICE.  153 

health  and  strength  during  their  treatment  in  Hospi 
tals.  If  half  the  energy  wasted  by  the  Governors  of 
various  States  in  the  vain  attempt  to  supplant  the 
Federal  authorities  in  the  work  they  were  doing  so 
imperfectly,  had  been  concentrated  in  a  determined 
effort  to  force  them  to  do  it  more  thoroughly,  we  should 
not  now  have  to  tell  that  the  horrors  of  Shiloh  and 
other  bloody  battle-fields  were  mitigated  only  by  the 
voluntary,  and  partial  efforts  of  humane  and  zealous, 
but  irresponsible  persons.  It  would  have  been 
our  grateful  duty  rather  to  have  related  that  these 
horrors  were  prevented  by  that  regular,  steady, 
forecasting  action  of  the  proper  Government  agencies, 
belonging  to  a  perfectly  organized  system,  directed 
by  officers  thoroughly  trained  in  a  knowledge  of  their 
duties. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  objections  which  experience 
has  proved  to  be  inherent  in  the  volunteer  system  of 
Hospital  Transports  organized  by  the  Com-  Transport  ser- 
mission  in  the  West,  there  were  reasons 
founded  upon  the  prospects  of  the  cam- 
paign  on  the  Peninsula,  for  which  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  then  preparing,  which  induced  the 
Commission  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  Govern 
ment  its  limited  capacity  of  performing  the  same 
humane  service  towards  that  Army,  which  it 
had  undertaken  on  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee 
rivers.  On  the  18th  of  April  1862  the  Acting 
Surgeon-General  approved  of  the  proposition  of 
the  Sanitary  Commission  to  assist  in  transport 
ing  by  steamers  to  Hospitals  at  the  North,  such 
of  the  sick  and  wounded,  as  the  Medical  Director 


154  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  should  confide  to  its 
care.  The  Secretary  of  War  immediately  directed  a 
steamer,  then  in  the  employment  of  the  Quartermaster's 
Department  to  be  transferred  to  the  Commission  to  be 
fitted  up  and  properly  supplied  by  it  for  this  pur 
pose.  Accordingly  the  "Daniel  Webster"  a  vessel 
capable  of  transporting  with  proper  arrangements  two 
hundred  and  fifty  patients  was  assigned  to  it,  and  a 
volunteer  force,  composed  of  several  of  the  higher 
officers  of  the  Central  Staff,  a  large  number  of  male 
nurses,  and  a  few  ladies  accompanied  it  to  York  River. 
During  the  voyage  from  Alexandria  the  steamer  was 
thoroughly  refitted,  and  properly  equipped  with  beds 
and  bedding  and  other  conveniences,  required  for  the 
patients,  and  the  force  on  board  was  organized  and  in 
structed  in  the  duties,  which  would  devolve  upon  them. 
The  steamer  arrived  in  the  river  during  the  siege  of 
Yorktown.  The  Commission  had  already  dispatched 
The  Sanitary  thither  in  anticipation  of  events,  a  large 

transport  Daniel  . 

Webster,  amount  or  supplies  for  the  use  of  the  Army, 
and  was  provided  with  two  large  boats,  used  as  store 
houses,  besides  a  well-filled  depot  on  shore.  A  glance  at 
the  condition  of  things  on  their  arrival,  revealed  to  its 
Agents,  the  same  deplorable  deficiency  in  adequate  pre 
paration  for  the  reception  of  the  sick  and  wounded, 
which  had  so  often  before  been  observed.  The  first 
sick  men  whom  they  saw,  were  found  crowded  in  a 
number  of  log  huts,  which  had  been  previously  used 
by  the  rebels  as  barracks.  The  place  was  a  most  pesti 
lential  one,  surrounded  by  swamps,  and  there,  the  un 
fortunate  soldiers  who  had  been  attacked  by  sickness, 
were  dying  by  scores,  of  fever,  still  clothed  in  their 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT   SERVICE.  155 

uniforms,  and  even  wearing  their  caps.  It  would  hardly 
be  correct  to  call  such  a  place  a  Hospital.  There  were 
few  attendants,  no  clothing,  no  medicines,  and  the 
surgeons  in  charge  seemed  bewildered  in  their 
helplessness.  Permission  was  readily  obtained  from, 
the  Medical  Director,  that  these  wretched  men 
should  be  looked  after  by  the  Agents  of  the  Commis 
sion  who  had  arrived  in  the  Webster,  and  that  the 
sick,  who  were  in  a  condition  to  be  moved,  should  be 
with  the  least  possible  delay,  placed  on  board  of  that 
vessel,  and  transferred  to  a  Northern  Hospital.  In  the 
course  of  the  day,  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  men 
were  removed  by  the  Agents  of  the  Commission, 
were  carefully  nursed,  were  provided  with  clean 
clothing  and  suitable  food,  and  soon  found  themselves 
surrounded  with  all  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of 
a  well  regulated  hospital.  The  change  in  their  condi 
tion  was  most  remarkable.  No  sooner  had  the  vessel 
left  the  sickly  shores  of  the  Peninsula,  than  nearly  all 
the  patients  became  convalescent,  and  not  a  single  man 
died  on  the  voyage  to  New  York.  The  Commission 
was  cheered  by  this  first  result  of  its  experiment,  and 
encouraged  to  persevere  in  this  life-saving  service. 

In  the  meantime  Yorktown  was  evacuated,  and  the 
Army  advanced.  This  of  course  rendered  necessary  the 
removal  of  the  Regimental  Hospitals,  and  Peculiar  aiffi- 

_T  culties   of  the 

their  inmates  were  sent  down  to  Yorktown  service. 
in  order  that  they  should  be  at  once  embarked  in 
Transports  and  sent  north.  But  no  adequate  prepara 
tions  had  been  made  by  the  authorities  to  meet  such 
an  emergency.  The  "  Ocean  Queen,"  a  steamer  of 
vast  size  and  capacity,  had  that  very  morning  been 


156  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

placed  in  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  the  Commission,  to 
be  fitted  up  as  a  Hospital  Transport  in  the  place  of  the 
Webster,  just  sent  to  sea.  Of  course  nothing  was  yet 
ready  on  the  "  Queen,"  but  the  officers  in  charge  of  the 
sick  from  the  Hospitals,  insisted  upon  depositing  them 
upon  the  decks  of  that  vessel.  No  time  was  lost  in  use 
less  complaint,  and  in  a  few  hours,  those  in  charge  of 
her,  by  the  most  unremitting  labor,  and  by  drawing 
upon  the  supplies  of  the  Commission  which  had  been 
placed  on  their  storeboats,  were  enabled  to  provide 
tolerably  for  the  comfort  of  those  who  had  thus  been 
thrown  upon  their  care.  This  event,  occurring  at 
the  very  outset  of  their  operations  in  this  new  field 
of  labor,  will  serve  to  illustrate  some  of  the  difficulties 
and  embarrassments,  by  which  the  efforts  of  the  Agents 
of  the  Commission  to  aid  the  Government  in  the  trans 
portation  of  the  sick  and  wounded  were  surrounded. 

In   order   to   understand   more   fully  the  practical 
nature  of  these    difficulties   it   will    be    necessary  to 

Lttnmenttffi-  consider  tn6  exact  relations  of  the  Commis- 
cers  wMie  per-  sion  to  the  Government  in  this  business. 

forming   this    T,  ...  />  .    , 

service,  lts  position  from  a  variety  of  causes  was  a 

most  trying  one,  and  the  service  was  performed  under 
all  the  conditions  of  a  presumed  authority  without 
command,  and  of  rights  without  powers.  The 
Commission  never  undertook  to  perform  the  whole 
service  of  Hospital  Transports  on  the  Peninsula; 
it  proposed  to  aid  the  Government  in  the  work 
by  equipping  as  many  vessels  as  the  limited  means 
at  its  disposal  would  permit.  It  was  supposed 
of  course,  that  the  number  of  the  boats  under  its 
charge  would  bear  but  a  small  proportion  to  those  in 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT    SERVICE.  157 

the  employment  and  under  the  direct  management  of 
the  Medical  Director.  It  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
transportation  of  the  wounded  from  the  field  of  battle 
or  the  hospitals  to  the  boats ;  its  duty  in  theory  began 
on  the  boats  themselves.  In  practice,  it  was  responsi 
ble  for  the  care  of  all  those  who  were  hurried,  without 
the  slightest  attention  to  their  first  wants,  from 
"the  front"  to  the  base  on  the  river.  By  an 
agreement  between  the  Commission  and  the  Medical 
Director,  certain  boats  were  to  be  reserved  for  a  certain 
description  of  cases  only,  and  their  points  of  destina 
tion  were  to  be  regulated  by  the  nature  of  the  disability 
of  the  patients  thus  selected.  All  these  wise  provi 
sions  were  wholly  neglected  in  practice.  Owing  to  the 
absence  of  some  proper  representative  of  the  Medical 
authorities,  no  such  selection  of  patients  was  made, 
and  day  after  day,  a  vast  crowd  of  sufferers,  differing 
in  every  respect,  except  in  a  desire  to  escape  from  the 
horrors  they  had  endured,  were  forced  upon  the  boats 
in  charge  of  the  Commission. 

By  virtue  of  the  same  agreement,  these  boats  were 
to  have  been  placed  under  military  discipline.  But 
this  provision  also  was  neglected,  and  in  Embarrassments 
addition  to  their  proper  duties  in  the  care  f^J^h'is 
of  the  sick,  the  Agents  were  obliged  to  kind- 
manage  and  pacify  disorderly  and  insubordinate  crews. 
The  exigencies  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
also,  interfered  with  their  well-arranged  plans  for  the 
orderly  and  regular  disposal  of  the  sick  and  wounded. 
More  than  once  it  happened,  that  after  undergoing  all 
the  labor  and  expense  of  fitting  up  a  steamer  which  had 
been  assigned  to  them,  for  hospital  purposes,  they  were 


158  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

suddenly  ordered  to  return  it  to  the  officers  of  that  De 
partment,  as  it  was  required  for  other  needs  of  the  mili 
tary  service.    Thus  it  was  impossible  to  foresee,  not  only 
for  a  week,  but  even  for  a  single  day,  how  many  boats 
would  be  at  their  disposal,  or  the  number  of  patients 
they  would  be  called  upon  to   provide    for.      Add    to 
this  the  utter  absence  of  all  control  of  the  crews,  the 
impossibility  of  calculating  upon  the  continuous  and 
effective  services  of  volunteer  Surgeons  and  nurses,  who 
might  and  often  did  forsake  their  duties  at  an  hour's 
notice,  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  whole  matter  of  the 
relations  of  the  Commission  to  the  Government,  arising 
from  a  want  of  harmony  between  the  action  of  the  Sur 
geon-General  and  that  of  the  Medical  Director,  and  it 
will   be   readily   perceived,   that  the   officers   of   the 
Commission,  who  were  fully  imbued  with  that  spirit 
which  taught  them  to  do  everything  they  attempted 
with  thoroughness  and  system,  soon  found  themselves 
in  a  most    painful   and  harassing  position.      It  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  these  officers  were  able 
to  do  a  tithe  of  what  they  hoped  to  do,  for  the  relief 
of  the  vast  masses,  who  suffered  from  the  casualties  of 
war   during  the  Peninsular  campaign.     Nothing  but 
the  patient  and  untiring  zeal  and  energy,  and  great 
administrative  capacity  of  Mr.  Olmsted  who  directed 
the  service,  and  the  unwearied  toil  and  devotion  of  a 
portion  of  his  Volunteer  Corps  with  Mr.  Knapp  at  its 
head,  saved  the  experiment  from  proving  a  total  failure. 
Notwithstanding  the  formidable  obstacles  thus  encoun 
tered  at  every  step,  the  Commission  succeeded  in  trans 
porting  from  the  Peninsula  in  a  comparatively  com 
fortable  condition,  more  than  eight  thousand  sick  and 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT    SERVICE.  159 

wounded  men.  This  result  fell  far  short  of  its  expec 
tations,  and  was  hardly  commensurate  with  the  im 
mense  labor  it  called  for.  But  it  is  a  great  satisfaction 
to  remember  that  the  most  arduous  and  harassing 
duty  performed  by  the  Commission  during  the  war, 
was  in  some  degree  instrumental  in  mitigating  the 
horrors  of  its  most  disastrous  campaign. 

This  transportation  service  occurred,  it  should  be 
stated,  at  a  time  when  the  machinery  of  the  re-organized 
Medical  Bureau  was  being  put  in  order,  and  intervention  of 

the  Surgeon  - 

just  after  the  appointment  ot  the  new  Sur-  General. 
geon-General.  The  arrangements  for  the  whole  Medical 
service  of  the  army  of  course  absorbed  at  that  time  the 
attention  of  that  officer,  and  he  was  probably  not 
fully  aware  of  the  mismanagement  of  the  affairs 
of  his  Department,  by  his  representative  in  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  Towards  the  close  of  the  month  of 
May,  in  consequence  of  representations  made  by  the 
Commission  to  him  of  the  state  of  things  in  the  Pe 
ninsula,  a  plan  for  properly  systematizing  the  Commis 
sion's  work  in  the  transport  service,  and  of  defining 
more  accurately  its  relations  to  the  Government,  was 
agreed  upon.  This  plan  consisted  chiefly  in  substi 
tuting  hired  surgeons  and  nurses  for  volunteers,  and  in 
the  introduction  of  strict  military  discipline  and  sub 
ordination  in  the  control  of  the  steamers  and  their 
crews.  The  Commission  agreed  to  assist  the  Surgeon- 
General  by  examining  at  New  York  into  the  fitness  of 
all  candidates  for  surgeons  and  nurses.  This  plan, 
however  admirable,  and  based  upon  the  sad  experience 
of  the  failure  of  that  which  had  already  been  tried, 
was  never  put  in  operation.  Indeed  the  necessity  for 


160  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

the  transportation  service  in  that  quarter,  soon  ceased. 
Until  the  Medical  Director  of  the  Army  of  the  Po 
tomac  was  relieved,  however,  and  a  wise  and  humane 
system  under  an  efficient  officer  introduced,  the  utterly 
inadequate  provision  made  to  relieve  the  agonies  and 
the  sufferings  of  the  victims  of  the  Peninsular  cam 
paign,  still  continued  to  be  a  disgrace  to  the  civi 
lization  of  the  country.  It  is  satisfactory,  however,  to 
know,  that  the  experience  gained  in  that  campaign 
concerning  the  mode  of  transporting  the  sick  and 
wounded,  was  of  great  value  in  creating  a  proper 
system,  under  Government  officers,  for  the  perform 
ance  of  this  service  in  other  parts  of  the  country 
during  the  remainder  of  the  war. 

Although  this  was  the  last  attempt  made  by  the 
Commission  to  convey  those  who  had  suffered  from  the 
Hospital  cars,  casualties  of  war  to  proper  Hospitals  by 
water,  it  was  not  discouraged  by  its  comparative 
want  of  success  from  making  an  effort  to  provide 
suitable  transportation  for  the  same  class  of  sufferers 
by  land.  Its  failure  to  induce  the  Government 
to  organize  an  Ambulance  Regiment,  has  been  already 
noticed,  but  every  battle-field  bore  testimony  to 
the  absolute  necessity  of  such  a  provision.  The 
armies  as  they  advanced  into  the  enemy's  terri 
tory,  operated,  as  is  well-known,  on  long  lines  of  Rail 
ways,  which  connected  them  wTith  their  base  of  sup 
plies.  As  the  disabled  men  accumulated  at  "  the  front," 
it  became  of  course  necessary,  that  many  of  them 
should  be  removed  on  these  Railways  to  points  where 
large  General  Hospitals  had  been  established.  This 
involved  usually  a  long  journey,  and  it  was  essential 


HOSPITAL   TRANSPORT   SERVICE.  161 

to  the  humane  treatment  and  recovery  of  the  patients, 
that  their  removal  should  be  made  with  the  utmost 
tenderness  and  care.  In  the  Peninsula  and  at  the 
West,  those  who  had  been  wounded  in  battle,  and  the 
inmates  of  Regimental  Hospitals,  whom  it  was  thought 
desirable  to  get  rid  of,  were  placed  in  common  burden 
cars,  where,  like  so  many  sheep,  jarred  and  jolted  by 
every  movement,  without  any  of  the  comforts  and  con 
veniences  which  their  condition  demanded,  and  without 
proper  food,  clothing,  or  attention,  they  often  passed 
hours  and  even  days  in  indescribable  agony.  There 
wras  scarcely  a  practical  abuse  in  the  whole  adminis 
tration  of  the  Medical  service  which  called  more  loudly 
for  remedy. 

The  ingenuity  of  Dr.  Harris,  a  member  of  the 
Commission,  who  had  observed  the  fearful  sufferings 
produced  by  this  mode  of  transportation  in  the  Penin 
sula,  solved  satisfactorily  the  problem  of  conveying 
sick  and  wounded  men  on  Railways,  with  as  much  ease 
and  comfort  to  themselves  as  if  they  had  been  making 
the  voyage  by  water,  in  properly  equipped  steamers. 
In  the  attainment  of  the  desired  results,  the  objects  to  be  at- 
following  were  some  of  the  more  essential  tained  by  them, 
objects  to  be  considered :  1.  Specially  adapted  appli 
ances  and  furniture  for  the  comfort  and  security  of  the 
patients  in  railway  cars,  and  the  special  preparation  and 
exclusive  use  of  a  sufficient  number  of  easy-running 
cars  for  the  conveyance  of  the  more  serious  cases. 
2.  The  perfect  ventilation  and  care  of  the  cars  occupied 
by  the  patients.  3.  The  means  of  preparing  and  serv 
ing  food  in  them,  and  a  suitable  provision  of  surgical 

and  medical  supplies.     4.  The  employment  of  surgeons 
21 


162  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

and  nurses  exclusively  devoted  to  the  business  of  rail 
way  Plospital  Transportation.  5.  The  running  of 
special  Hospital  trains.  6.  Such  care  in  the  loading, 
unloading,  and  movement  of  the  patients  as  would 
best  insure  them  from  needless  change  of  posture 
and  suffering. 

Believing  it  possible  to  accomplish  these  most  im 
portant  objects  by  means  of  railway  ambulances  pre 
plan  approved  perly  constructed,  Dr.  Harris  laid  the  plans 

by  the  Quarter- 

master-General,  and  drawings  of  his  proposed  Hospital  car 
before  the   Quartermaster-General,     General     Meigs. 
That  enlightened  officer  was  at  once  struck  with  its 
adaptation  to  the  humane   purpose   for  which  it  was 
designed.     He  directed  that  certain  of  the  cars  at  that 
time  in  the  Government  establishment  at  Alexandria 
should  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Dr.  Harris,  to  be 
fitted  up  in  accordance  with  his  plans.    The  co-operation 
of  the  three  rail  way  companies  owning  the  line  between 
Washington  and  New  York  was  soon  after  secured. 
Cars  were  at  once  arranged  by  them  for  the  service  of 
the  transportation  of  the  wounded,  a  portion  of  the 
expense  of  the  equipment  only  being  borne  by  the 
Sanitary  Commission.     One  of  these  corporations,  that 
of  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Rail  Road  Company,  pre 
sented  to  the  Commission  a  Hospital  Car  thoroughly 
furnished,  as  its  contribution  towards  helping  forward 
this  great  work  of  mercy.     In  the  West,  where  all  the 
rail  roads  leading  to  "  the  front"  were  wholly  under  the 
control  of  the  Government,  this  improved  system  of 
railway  ambulances  was  soon  afterwards  introduced 
principally  through  the  influence   of  Dr.  Newberry, 
the  Western  Secretary. 


HOSPITAL   TRANSPORT   SERVICE.  163 

The  earnestness  of  his  recognition  of  their  value, 
and  the  anxious  solicitude  with  which  he  watched  over 
the  regularity  of  the  service,  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  at  his  suggestion  the  Sanitary  Commission 
purchased  a  locomotive  engine  which  was  used  exclu 
sively  in  moving  the  Hospital  train,  thus  insuring  the 
rapid  conveyance  of  the  patients  by  means  which  could 
not  be  withdrawn  for  the  other  exigencies  of  the  mili 
tary  service. 

A  very  slight  description  of  these  Hospital  cars  will 
give  some  idea  of  the  increased  comfort  provided  for 
the  patients  conveyed  in  them.  The  ordi-  Description  of 
nary  field  and  hospital  litter  or  stretcher  Cars, 
was  used  in  loading,  unloading,  and  carrying  the 
patients.  These  simple  litter-beds,  with  pillows,  mat 
tresses,  and  comforts  attached,  were  then  ingeniously 
and  securely  swung  in  tiers — three  high,  and  end  to  end 
— upon  light  stanchions,  and  there  suspended  by  stout 
tugs  of  India  rubber,  which  gave  sufficient  elasticity 
to  obviate  all  jar  to  the  bed  and  its  patient.  Thirty 
of  these  beds  were  thus  swung  along  the  side  of  each 
Hospital  car.  A  number  of  invalid  chairs  and  a  broad 
couch  filled  the  remainder  of  the  available  space.  A 
pantry  furnished  with  medicines,  utensils,  beverages, 
and  substantial  food,  ready  for  serving  to  the  patients 
hot  or  cold,  made  up  the  sum  of  creature  comforts, 
while  nurses,  abundantly  provided  with  towels,  socks, 
blankets,  sponges,  etc.,  kept  every  man  clean  and 
warm,  however  long  the  trip  or  stormy  the  weather. 
All  the  usual  appliances  and  skill  of  a  well  regulated 
Hospital  were  at  hand. 

The  expense  of  fitting  up  these  cars  was  borne  in  a 


164  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

great  measure,  as  we  have  stated,  by  the  Commission, 
and  the  officers  in  charge  of  them  were  appointed  by 
it.  In  the  autumn  of  1862,  the  transportation  service 
between  Washington  and  New  York  was  begun,  and 
was  continued  daily  with  the  utmost  regularity,  and 
growing  efficiency  till  the  close  of  the  war.  In  the 
West  the  system  had  a  rapid  developement,  and  during 
Deveiopementof  the  progress  of  the  war  more  than  thirty  of 
the  system,  these  ambulances  were  in  constant  use.  The 
Hospital  train  from  Atlanta  to  Louisville  made  the 
journey  of  more  than  five  hundred  miles  according  to 
an  established  time-table,  and  reached  its  destination 
with  the  exactness  and  speed  of  trains  on  well-managed 
rail  roads  in  time  of  peace.  Between  New  York  and 
Boston  also,  there  were  cars  arranged  for  the  conveyance 
of  the  sick  and  wounded  similar  in  all  respects  to 
those  which  we  have  described.  The  service  on  this 
line  was  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the 
Boston  Associates  of  the  Commission,  and  all  its 
details  were  most  carefully  and  successfully  managed 
by  their  Secretary,  Mr.  JOHN  S.  BLATCHFORD,  who  in 
this,  as  in  all  other  forms  of  Army  relief  undertaken 
by  the  Commission  in  Boston  during  the  war,  was 
most  conspicuous  for  his  zeal  and  capacity.  The  whole 
number  of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  conveyed  by 
these  Hospital  cars  during  the  war  was  in  the  East 
about  100,000,  and  in  the  West  about  125,000. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  introduction  and  general 
adoption  of  this  system  of  railway  ambulances  had  been 
Transfer  of  the  secured  without  the  direct  intervention  of  the 

cars  to  the  Med-  .      . 

icai  Bureau,       Medical  Joureau.    The  whole  subject  of  trans 
portation,  as  we  have  said,  was  within  the  jurisdiction, 


HOSPITAL    TRANSPORT    SERVICE.  165 

and  governed  pretty  much  by  the  arbitrary  discretion  of 
the  Quartermaster's  Department.  The  proper  business 
of  the  Medical  officers  was  to  look  after  the  patients 
during  their  transportation,  not  to  provide  them  with 
the  means  of  conveyance.  When  the  experiment 
proved  a  success,  the  Commission,  faithful  to  its  policy 
of  non-interference  with  Government  officials  in  their 
appropriate  sphere,  desired  to  transfer  to  the  Medical 
Bureau  that  portion  of  the  work  which  had  been  con 
fided  to  it  by  the  Quartermaster's  Department.  The 
management  of  the  Hospital  cars,  therefore,  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  officers  of  the  Medical  Bureau.  The 
Commission,  however,  never  lost  its  deep  interest  in 
maintaining  the  service  in  the  utmost  efficiency,  and 
until  the  close  of  the  war  many  of  the  agents  employed 
in  it  were  paid  from  its  treasury,  and  nearly  all  the 
suitable  food  provided  for  the  patients  came  from  its 
storehouses. 

To  Dr.  Solomon  Andrews,  Jr.,  the  Chief  Surgeon 
of  Hospital  Trains  in  the  East ;  to  Dr.  Henry  Janes, 
the  Medical  Director  of  Carnp  Letterman  at  Gettys 
burg  ;  and  to  Drs.  Barnum  and  Myers,  in  charge  of 
the  service  in  the  West,  unbounded  praise  is  due  for 
the  zeal  and  faithfulness  with  which  for  nearly  three 
years  they  conducted  all  the  work  of  the  railway  Hos 
pital  Trains. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SUPPLEMENTAL  HOSPITAL  SUPPLIES. 

THE  chief  business  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 
during  the  war  in  the  opinion  of  those  who  had  not 
Popular  error  in  studied  its  system,  as  a  whole,  was  the  collec- 

regard  to    the  J 

work  of  the  tion  and  distribution  of  voluntary  supplies, 
"  of  the  soldier  on  the  battle-field 


and  in  Hospitals.  It  was  natural  perhaps,  that  this 
should  be  the  general  impression,  for  the  needs  of  that 
portion  of  its  work,  were  brought  more  constantly  before 
the  public  attention  than  those  of  any  other  ;  by  far 
the  larger  portion  of  its  funds  was  expended  in  main 
taining  it  in  proper  efficiency,  and  its  operations  re 
sembled  more  nearly  those  undertaken  by  other 
voluntary  associations,  engaged  in  the  work  of  Army 
relief.  Still,  as  has  been  said,  a  system  of  relief,  based 
on  such  methods,  occupied  at  the  outset,  in  the  plan  of 
the  Commission,  a  very  subordinate,  although  still 
important  place.  The  vast  proportions  it  afterwards 
assumed,  during  the  progress  of  the  war,-  were  due  to 
circumstances,  which  it  was  impossible  to  have  foreseen 
from  the  beginning.  It  was  true,  that  from  the  very 
first,  the  want  of  adequate  supplies  for  the  sick  and 
wounded  in  the  Hospitals,  seemed  to  forebode  almost 

166 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  167 

as  great  danger  to  the  efficiency  of  the  army,  as 
the  neglect  of  proper  precautionary  measures.  Still, 
it  was  thought,  in  judging  of  the  comparative 
importance  of  urging  upon  the  Government,  and  the 
public,  the  adoption  of  some  means  of  providing  for 
these  two  classes  of  needs,  that  it  was  more  essential 
to  insist  upon  those  of  prevention,  than  upon  those  of 
cure.  There  were  many  reasons  for  this  opinion ; 
among  others,  may  be  mentioned,  the  necessity  of 
educating  the  public  mind  in  regard  to  the  true 
value  of  preventive  measures.  It  was  supposed  also 
that  an  imperious,  ever  pressing  necessity  forcing  the 
Government  to  make  the  same  adequate  provision 
for  those  who  were  in  the  Hospitals,  as  for  furnishing 
food  and  arms  to  those  who  were  in  the  ranks,  would 
soon  prove  a  stern  teacher,  whose  lessons  could  not  in 
the  nature  of  things  remain  long  unheeded. 

The  Commission  was  disappointed  in  a  great  mea 
sure  in  this  expectation,  and  after  a  short  expe 
rience  of  those  great  and  pressing  wants  Organization  of 

•         TT  'i.     1  T,' 'I.  the    ^PP1?^- 

of  patients  in  Hospitals,  which  were  unre-  partment, 
lieved  by  the  ordinary  and  proper  Government 
agencies,  it  determined  to  organize  that  department  of 
its  work,  which  embraced  the  collection  and  distribu 
tion  of  voluntary  supplemental  supplies.  In  the 
first  letter  addressed  by  the  New  York  delegation  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  asking  the  appointment  of  a 
Sanitary  Commission,  one  of  the  objects  which  it  was 
urged,  might  be  gained  by  the  services  of  such  a  body, 
was  the  determination  of  the  best  methods,  of  aiding 
the  Medical  Bureau  with  such  supplies,  as  the  spon 
taneous  benevolence  of  the  people  was  eager  to  furnish. 


168  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

The  desire  was  also  expressed,  that  such  volunteer 
action  might  be  harmonized  with  that  of  the  regular 
authorities,  in  a  way,  as  efficient,  and  as  little  embar 
rassing,  as  extra-official  co-operation  could  be.  This 
statement  of  the  design  of  the  Commission,  to  aid  the 
Government  with  the  least  possible  interference  with 
its  ordinary  methods,  embodies  the  fundamental  prin 
ciple,  which  underlaid  all  its  work,  especially  in 
that  department  of  relief,  technically  so  called,  where 
its  Agents  were  brought  into  constant  and  often  very 
delicate  relations  with  the  Government  officials.  In 
its  Constitution  or  Plan  of  Organization  one  of  its  ob 
jects  is  stated  to  be,  "to  secure  contributions  from 
patriotic  and  benevolent  individuals  and  associations, 
and  to  organize,  methodize  and  reduce  to  serviceable- 
ness,  the  vague  and  haphazard  benevolence  of  the  people 
towards  the  Army."  Immediately  after  the  Commis 
sion  was  appointed,  and  its  plans  became  known,  it 
began  to  receive  from  individuals  and  associations 
throughout  the  country,  a  great  variety  of  articles  in 
tended  for  the  Hospitals,  while  extra  Hospital  clothing, 
and  such  additional  comforts  as  seemed  most  needed, 
had  been  purchased  by  its  funds. 

On  the  5th  of  September,  1861,  the  General  Secretary 
enlightened  by  the  experience  of  the  results  of  the  dis- 
Suppiy  depots  tribution  in  the  Camps  and  Hospitals  of 
more  than  sixty  thousand  such  articles  which 
had  been  confided  to  the  Commission,  reported  to  the 
Board,  that  depots  for  the  reception  of  such  extra 
governmental  supplies  should  be  established  by  it 
in  some  of  the  large  cities.  It  was  estimated 
that  unless  the  Government  system  could  be 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  169 

speedily  and  greatly  improved,  a  capital  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  and  an  income  of  five  thou 
sand  dollars  a  month,  at  least,  in  addition,  would 
be  needed  to  establish  and  carry  out  a  proper 
national  method  of  supplemental  and  extra  govern 
mental  Hospital  supplies.  This  project  was  approved 
by  the  Board,  and  depots  of  supplies  were  accordingly 
established  at  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Wash 
ington,  Cincinnati  and  Wheeling.  On  the  5th  of 
October,  this  arrangement  was  anounced  to  the  public 
in  a  circular  which  was  widely  distributed,  addressed 
"to  the  Loyal  Women  of  America."  In  this  circular 
it  was  stated,  that  "the  labors  of  the  Commission  had 
been  hitherto  directed  chiefly  to  induce  precaution 
against  certain  diseases,  which  had  scourged  almost 
every  modern  European  army,  but  that,  as  experience 
was  gained,  it  became  evident,  that  here  as  elsewhere, 
Government  alone  could  not  completely  provide  for  the 
humane  treatment  of  those,  for  whom  the  duty  of  pro 
viding  as  well  as  possible  was  acknowledged."  The 
task  of  aiding  the  Government  in  this  matter,  seemed 
to  devolve  peculiarly  on  the  women  of  the  country. 
This  duty  was  pointed  out  and  enforced,  and  the  ad 
vantages  to  be  derived  from  the  well  considered  system 
organized  by  the  Commission,  enabling  it  to  bestow 
that  aid,  systematically  and  in  perfect  subordination  to 
the  general  plans  of  the  Government,  were  dwelt  upon. 
The  women  were  therefore  urged  to  form  societies  in 
every  neighborhood,  and  to  devote  themselves  for  a 
time  to  the  sacred  service  of  their  country.  It  was 
suggested  that  energetic  committees  should  be  ap 
pointed  by  these  societies,  who  should  call  from  house 


22 


170  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

to  house,  and  from  store  to  store,  and  obtain  contribu 
tions  in  materials  suitable  to  be  made  up,  or  money 
for  the  purchase  of  such  material,  and  that  the  loyal 
women,  composing  these  societies  should  meet  on  fixed 
days  to  make  garments  from  the  material  so  procured. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Commission,  with  a 
wise  foresight  and  a  perfect  comprehension  of  some  of 
The  sympathy  the  mo$t  novel  and  striking  characteristics 

and  aid   of  the 

women  of  the  of    our   American    civilization,    sought    to 


°rgan  make  the  women  of  the  country  its  agents 
in  the  vast  work  of  supplying,  the  most  palpable  and 
obvious  of  all  the  deficiencies  of  the  Government  in 
its  care  of  the  Army.  Much  has  been  said  and  written 
upon  the  part  taken  by  American  women  in  support 
ing  the  National  cause  during  the  war,  but  the  full 
extent  of  the  influence  they  exerted,  can  hardly  be 
understood,  without  adverting  to  the  peculiar  position 
which  they  occupy  in  a  democratic  society  like  ours. 
Women,  in  history,  have  often  been  the  inspirers  of 
men,  rarely  their  fellow-  workers.  The  power  which 
they  wielded  in  the  late  war,  was  due  to  the  exercise  of 
those  gentler,  domestic  virtues,  which  find  their  birth 
place,  and  ordinarily  their  only  sphere  of  action, 
within  the  narrow  limits  of  home.  The  influence  of 
these  qualities  has  been  little  observed  in  other  wars  ; 
here,  exceptional  circumstances,  arising  from  the  pecu 
liar  structure  of  our  society,  first  gave  an  opportunity 
for  a  developement  on  a  vast  scale,  of  that  same 
tender,  generous  spirit  of  devotion  on  the  part  of 
woman  to  those  who  were  suffering  in  the  cause  of  their 
country,  as  was  excited  by  the  needs  of  her  own  kindred. 
Of  course,  this  spirit  of  zeal  and  devotion  was  not 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  171 

created  by  the  war,  for  it  had  long  manifested  itself  in 
an  organized  form,  in  every  part  of  the  country,  where 
any  of  the  countless  forms  of  human  suffering  required 
succor.  But  the  peculiarity  is,  that  here,  organizations 
for  such  benevolent  purposes,  had  been  for  a  long  time 
under  the  control  and  management  almost  exclusively 
of  women.  The  admirable  plans  arranged  by  them 
for  conducting  such  societies,  and  the  wonderful  suc 
cess,  which  had  attended  these  schemes,  both  in  their 
organization  and  practical  result,  first  suggested  the 
employment  of  their  extraordinary  zeal  for  kindred 
purposes  on  a  much  larger  scale,  and  in  a  novel  field 
of  labor.  The  Commission  was  convinced  that  in  the 
intelligent  zeal  and  devotion  of  these  wromen,  in  their 
habit  of  prosecuting  benevolent  labors  by  organized 
effort,  and  in  their  general  familiarity  with  the  prin 
ciples  and  methods,  which  insure  success  in  such 
undertakings,  it  had  discovered  a  precious  source  for  a 
regular,  systematic,  and  bountiful  supply  of  all  that  the 
soldier  could  need  in  the  way  of  voluntary  and  supple 
mental  aid.  It  was  its  constant  effort  during  the  war,  so 
to  direct  their  zeal  in  this  work,  and  so  to  instruct  them 
in  regard  to  their  labors,  that  the  greatest  possible 
practical  benefit  should  result  to  the  soldier.  It  was 
wholly  unnecessary  to  stimulate  this  zeal,  or  urge  to 
self-denying  labor,  in  so  sacred  a  cause.  The  intense 
feeling  of  nationality,  characteristic  of  all  classes,  the 
ardor  of  which  no  reverses  or  discouragements  could 
chill,  burned  with  ten-fold  intensity  in  the  hearts  of 
the  women  of  the  country.  Denied  a  participation  in 
the  actual  toils  and  dangers  of  the  strife,  they  eagerly 

sought  to  manifest  the  depth  of  their  sympathy,  by 

\J 


172  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

work  suited  to  their  sex.  If  they  could  not  lead  those 
they  loved  in  battle,  they  could,  almost  before  its 
smoke  had  cleared  away,  bind  up  their  wounds, 
minister  to  their  sufferings,  and  set  them  an  example 
of  heroic  courage,  patience  and  self-sacrificing  devotion, 
which  would  inspire  them  with  fresh  and  undying 
enthusiasm  for  the  cause. 

Strong  as  was  the  love  of  country  as  a  motive  for 
"persistent  and  intelligent  effort  for  the  relief  of  the 
Nature  and  mo-  soldier,  there  was  another  which,  appealing 

tive  of  this  sym 
pathy,  more  peculiarly  to  their  household  affec 
tions,  served  constantly  to  keep  alive  their  zeal.  The 
vast  majority  of  those  who  had  gone  forth  to  fight  the 
battles  of  their  country,  went  from  well-ordered  and 
)  comfortable  homes.  While  they  carried  with  them 
into  the  Army,  the  healthy  influence  of  such  a '  train 
ing,  that  influence  was  constantly  preserved,  by  the 
consciousness  that  they  were  the  objects  of  the  anxie 
ties  and  prayers  of  wives  and  sisters,  who  sought  to 
relieve  their  overburdened  hearts  by  working  for  those 
loved  ones,  who  were  absent  and  in  danger.  The  sen 
timent  of  profound  love  of  country  aided  in  almost 
every  instance  by  an  impulse  of  personal  affection  to 
wards  some  one  at  least  who  might  suffer  in  its  cause, 
was  soon  crystalized  into  those  organizations  which  did 
such  wonderful  and  effective  service  during  the  war. 
It  produced  more  than  seven  thousand  Aid  Societies, 
tributary  to  the  Sanitary  Commission,  composed  wholly 
of  women,  all  of  whom  were  engaged  in  the  common 
work  of  Army  relief.  Its  material  result  was  the  col 
lection  and  distribution  of  supplemental  supplies, 
valued  at  many  millions.  The  estimated  value  of  the 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  173 

stores  distributed  by  the  Commission  to  the  Army 
during  the  war  was  about  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  Of 
this  sum  at  least  four-fifths  was  made  up  by  the  value 
of  the  contributions  in  kind  from  the  homes  of  the 
country.  To  how  many  a  weary  sufferer  in  the  Hospi 
tals  or  on  the  battle-field  these  supplies  gave  life  and 
strength  and  comfort,  none  but  the  Recording  Angel 
can  tell ;  what  an  influence  for  good,  this  generous  and 
constant  stream  of  bounty  flowing  directly  from  the 
homes  of  the  country  to  the  Army,  exerted  in  improv 
ing  the  morale,  and  stimulating  the  patriotic  devotion 
of  the  soldier,  it  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture.  In  all 
this  work  there  is  positively  nothing  of  which  history 
has  given  us  'an  example.  The  women  of  our  country 
bore  no  resemblance  to  that  type  of  ancient  virtue,  the 
Spartan  Mother,  who  as  she  delivered  the  shield  to  her 
son,  on  the  eve  of  battle,  uttered  the  deepest  wish  of  her 
heart,  as  she  told  him,  "  Either  with  this  or  upon  this  ;" 
their  work  claims  no  praise  for  reasons  for  which  we  are 
asked  to  admire  the  Roman  Matrons,  who,  while  their 
husbands  were  absent  in  the  Army,  occupied  them 
selves  in  their  own  homes,  preparing  clothing  for  their 
slaves  and  dependents  ;  their  influence  was  quite  unlike 
that  of  woman  in  the  clays  of  chivalry,  when  a  romantic 
sentiment  of  devotion  impelled  to  deeds  of  heroic 
courage.  But  in  all  that  invests  the  social  position  of 
woman  in  our  day  with  real  dignity,  valuing  her 
sympathy  with  Truth  and  Right  as  a  mighty  moral 
power,  it  was  a  work  full  of  a  significance  as  novel  as  it 
was  consoling. 

This  appeal  to  the  women  of  the  country  to  aid  the 
Government  with  supplemental  Hospital  supplies,  was 


174  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


of  course  based  upon  the  assumption,  that 

either  ^  could  no*  do.  OT  was  no*  doing,  all 
aid  considered,  that  the  necessities  of  the  case  required. 
There  was  a  natural  objection  to  this  plan  of  volunteer 
aid,  which  had  occurred  to  many  reflecting  people,  and 
which  had  been  fully  considered  by  the  Commission 
before  embarking  in  so  important  an  undertaking. 
It  was  said,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Government 
to  meet  all  these  wants  in  the  fullest  manner,  and  that 
any  attempt,  outside  its  agencies,  to  eke  out  its  defi 
ciencies,  would  result  in  a  relaxation  of  zeal,  on  the 
part  of  the  authorities,  in  the  performance  of  their 
proper  functions.  It  was  also  feared  by  many,  that 
the  distribution  of  these  gifts  of  the  people  would 
embarrass  the  officials  in  the  due  exercise  of  their  au 
thority,  especially  in  the  Hospitals.  These  were  objec 
tions  made  at  the  outset,  and  reiterated  with  great 
apparent  plausibility  as  the  war  went  on,  and  as  the 
Government  standard  of  providing  for  the  sick  and 
wounded  improved.  Still  the  Commission,  watching 
constantly  for  an  opportunity  of  throwing  this  labor 
on  the  Government,  where  in  theory  it'  properly  be 
longed,  was  never  able  to  do  so  without  neglecting  its 
duty.  So  entirely  was  this  the  case,  that  after  hostili 
ties  had  ceased,  and  more  than  three  months  after  Lee 
had  surrendered,  the  Commission  was  called  upon  to 
supply  antiscorbutics  for  a  corps  of  25,000  men  which 
had  been  sent  to  Texas,  unprovided  with  any  means 
of  guarding  against  that  form  of  disease,  to  which  it 
must  have  been  known  by  some  one  in  authority,  they 
were  peculiarly  liable  in  that  part  of  the  country.  But 
at  the  outset  of  the  war,  or  at  least  as  soon  as  the  vast 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL   SUPPLIES.  175 

armies  called  for  by  the  Government,  began  to  take  the 
field,  there  was  no  pretence  that  there  was  any  adequacy 
of  provision  on  its  part  for  the  humane  care  of  the  suf 
fering  soldier.  At  that  time,  owing  to  the  enormous  and 
sudden  demand,  deficiency  was  the  rule,  a  regular  or 
abundant  provision  the  exception,  in  all  the  Supply  De 
partments  of  the  Army.  When  arms  and  clothing 
could  not  be  furnished  for  the  newly  raised  regiments, 
when  the  Quartermaster- General  was  forced,  in  the 
month  of  October,  1861,  publicly  to  solicit  donations 
of  blankets  for  men  in  active  service,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  that  articles  of  the  first  necessity  were 
wanting  in  the  Hospitals  and  on  the  battle-field.  Hos 
pital  clothing  there  was  none,  the  supply  even  of  the 
commonest  medicines  was  exceedingly  scanty  and  ir 
regular,  and  no  provision  had  yet  been  made  for  a 
suitable  Hospital  diet.  The  only  dependence  aside 
from  voluntary  offerings  for  such  delicacies  as  were 
needed  by  the  sick,  was  the  "  Hospital  fund,"  a  pre 
carious  resource,  arising  from  a  commutation  in  money 
of  the  value  of  that  portion  of  the  ordinary  ration  not 
consumed  by  the  patient, — a  fund  which  in  most  cases 
under  the  management  of  inexperienced  officers  was 
not  productive.  There  was  a  universal  complaint  of 
neglect  in  the  Hospitals,  and  the  question  was,  not 
whether  they  were  well  provided  for  by  the  Govern 
ment,  but  how  best  to  supply  their  acknowledged  defi 
ciencies  without  impairing  the  responsibility  of  the 
officers  in  charge  of  them.  This  was  indeed  the  only 
question,  for,  as  we  have  had  occasion  so  often  to  re 
mark,  the  impulse  of  the  roused  benevolent  feeling  of 
the  people  towards  the  Army,  was  wholly  irresistible. 


176  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

All  that  could  be  hoped  for,  was,  so  to  direct  and  con 
trol  it,  that  it  might  produce  a  result  in  some  measure 
commensurate  with  the  zeal,  generosity  and  energy, 
which  were  its  main  characteristics. 

If  this  irrepressible  energy  was  not  to  be  wasted, 
trustworthy  information  from  some  recognized  autho- 
Necessity  of  rity  was  needed  as  to  the  real  wants  of  the 
studying  the  sa[c{jer  anc[  judicious  advice  as  to  the  best 

special  needs  of  J 

the  soldier,  mode  of  supplying  them.  The  natural 
impulse  with  those  who  had  friends  in  the  Army  was 
of  course  directed  first,  to  the  aid  of  some  particular 
soldier,  while  the  zeal  of  a  neighborhood  was  quickened 
by  the  desire  to  help  the  men  who  had  gone  from  its 
immediate  homes.  But  it  was  soon  found,  that  it  was 
impracticable  to  reach  the  soldier  in  this  way.  It  was 
discovered  that,  in  the  movement  of  an  army,  all  the 
resources  of  the  government  were  taxed  to  the  utmost 
to  furnish  transportation  for  the  men  themselves  with 
their  indispensable  provision  of  shelter,  food  and  arms. 
The  order  to  advance  was  the  signal  for  leaving  behind 
every  pound  of  superfluous  baggage,  which,  if  taken, 
might  encumber  the  march.  Of  course  it  was  impos 
sible  for  the  soldier  to  carry  with  him  such  articles  for 
his  comfort,  as  had  been  sent  to  him  from  his  home, 
and  experience  proved  that  on  a  long  march  the  men 
would  often  rather  throw  away  their  blankets  and  their 
overcoats,  and  even  their  rations,  than  endure  the 
fatigue  of  carrying  them.  Thus  it  happened  that  a 
large  portion  of  the  gifts  of  the  people,  sent  directly 
to  their  friends  in  the  Army  never  reached  their  desti 
nation  or  contributed,  in  any  way,  amidst  the  priva 
tions  of  active  campaigns,  to  their  health  and  comfort. 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  177 

But  even  if  this  difficulty  could  have  been  sur 
mounted,  there  was  found  in  the  natural  ignorance 
that  prevailed  concerning  the  real  wants  of  the  men 
and  their  comparative  importance,  another  obstacle  to 
the  practical  usefulness  of  all  this  well  meant  zeal. 
As  no  one  knew  anything,  by  experience,  of  a  soldier's 
life,  and  as  it  was  so  difficult  to  find  out  exactly  how 
far  the  government  proposed  to  care  for  them,  the 
imagination  of  the  kind-hearted  took  the  widest  range 
in  seeking  for  methods  to  relieve  his  necessities. 
Who  has  forgotten  those  strange  appendages  to 
the  head  gear  of  the  first  three  months'  men  called 
"  Havelocks,"  the  work  of  so  many  busy  hands  and 
warm  hearts,  remembered  now,  only  as  an  illustration 
of  the  wasted  labor  and  energy  of  a  true  but  misguided 
zeal  ?  Who  does  not  recall  the  strange  medley  of 
articles  called  delicacies,  which,  together  with  many 
things  of  essential  value  to  the  suffering  soldier,  were 
poured  indiscriminately  into  the  Hospitals,  during  the 
early  months  of  the  war,  or  the  indignation  of  excitable 
philanthropists, — men  and  women, — when  they  were 
told  that  the  patients  could  not  be  the  recipients  of 
their  peculiar  care,  but  must  be  left  in  the  charge 
of  the  Surgeons,  who,  alone,  could  be  permitted  to 
provide  for  their  treatment  and  regulate  their  diet? 
The  nature,  then,  of  the  supplies  and  the  mode  of 
distributing  them,  were  soon  found  to  be  practical 
questions,  not  to  be  solved  by  a  mere  sentiment  of  pity, 
or  even  by  a  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the 
soldier,  no  matter  how  pure  its  motive,  but  solely  by 
considerations  growing  out  of  the  exigencies  of  the 
military  service.  There  was  here  a  wide  field  for  the 

23 


178  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

exercise  of  the  truest  humanity,  but  it  was  a  field,  ut 
terly  unlike  that  in  which  any  one  had  heretofore 
labored,  and  its  proper  and  successful  cultivation 
required  a  special  instruction. 

The  Commission,  therefore,  recognizing  with  all  the 
world  the  need  of  supplemental  supplies,  sought  to 
Council  of  wo-  organize  a  system  by  which  those  most 
Washington, in  needed  should  be  provided  in  abundance, 
and  distributed  in  such  a  way  as  to  accomplish  the 
best  practical  result  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
whole  Army.  As  a  means  of  securing  a  concert 
of  action  among  the  women  of  the  country,  the  Com 
mission  invited  certain  societies,  from  which  it  had 
hitherto  received  its  principal  contribution  of  supplies, 
to  appoint  Delegates,  who  should  meet  in  Washington, 
and  after  fully  discussing  the  subject  in  all  its  bearings, 
advise  the  Commission  as  to  the  best  mode  of  effecting 
its  object.  This  conference,  or  "  Women's  Council,"  as 
it  was  called,  was  held  in  November,  1862,  and  was 
attended  by  ladies  representing  the  chief  auxiliaries 
of  the  Commission  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
Its  plans  and  methods  were  laid  before  them  by  Mr. 
Olmsted  and  Dr.  Newberry ;  the  peculiar  relations  of 
women  to  the  war,  and  the  aid  which  might  be  ren 
dered  by  them  to  the  sick  and  suffering  by  means  of  a 
system  of  organized  effort  were  earnestly  discussed. 
With  entire  unanimity  the  Council  agreed  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  women  of  the  country  to  provide  as 
sistance  and  consolation  for  the  sick  and  suffering 
"  abundantly,  persistently,  and  methodically,"  and 
that  such  aid  should  be  as  far  as  possible  an  expression 
of  pure  patriotism  and  love  of  the  Union.  To  perform 


SUPPLEMENTAL'  HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  179 

this  duty  properly,  they  resolved,  that  associations 
should  be  formed  in  every  village  and  town  with  this 
distinct  purpose  in  view,  and  that  whatever  was  thus 
provided,  should  be  thrown  into  a  common  stock  for 
the  relief  of  all  soldiers  who  might  suffer.  They  de 
cided  also  that  the  best  system  for  the  distribution  of 
these  gifts,  was  that  adopted  by  the  Sanitary  Commis 
sion,  by  means  of  which  relief  was  as  freely  afforded 
at  points  most  remote  from  loyal  communities,  as  at 
those  nearest  to  them.  This  was  the  great  source  of 
the  wonderful  supply  organization  of  the  Commission, 
and  out  of  it,  owing  to  the  zealous,  enlightened,  and 
unwearied  labors  of  the  societies  which  were  repre 
sented  in  this  Council  flowed  a  stream  constant  and 
abundant,  the  vast  proportions  of  which  were  only  less 
remarkable  than  the  perpetual  refreshment  it  admin 
istered  to  the  sick  and  weary  of  the  Army.  These 
Councils  or  conventions  of  representative  women  were 
held  from  time  to  time,  as  the  changing  circumstances 
of  the  war  seemed  to  require  them,  and  they  always 
resulted  in  perfecting  the  details  of  the  general  or 
ganization,  in  stimulating  those  engaged  in  work  for 
the  soldier  to  renewed  zeal,  and  in  confirming  the  loy 
alty  of  the  women  of  the  country  to  the  principles  and 
methods  of  the  Commission. 

As  another  step  towards  carrying  out  their  plans  for 
a  supply  organization,  the  Commission  invoked  the 
powerful  aid  of  a  body  of  men  throughout  Aid  of  the  ASSO- 
the  country  whom  they  had  appointed  As-  ^  *™^s 
sociate  Members.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sum  invoked, 
year  1862  more  than  four  hundred  such  members, 
representative  men  in  their  respective  communities, 


180  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

had  been  selected.  Their  duties  were  defined  in  a  cir 
cular  issued  in  June,  1861,  "  to  consist  in  efforts  to 
promote  the  establishment  of  auxiliary  associations 
and  so  to  direct  the  labors  of  those  already  formed,  for 
the  aid  and  relief  of  the  army,  that  they  might 
strengthen  and  support  those  of  the  Commission." 
When  the  depots  were  established  by  the  General  Sec 
retary  at  the  various  points  already  referred  to  for  the 
reception  of  supplies,  the  Associate  Members  re 
siding  at  those  places  were  requested  to  take  charge  of 
these  depots,  to  see  that  they  were  constantly  replen 
ished,  and  to  hold  the  stores  accumulated  in  them  sub 
ject  to  the  order  of  the  central  office  of  the  Commis 
sion.  In  pursuance  of  the  request  contained  in  this 
circular,  the  "  supply  business,"  as  it  was  called,  was 
actively  entered  upon  by  the  Associate  Members. 

In  accordance  with  the  policy  of  the  Commission,  as 
has  been  already  stated,  their  efforts  were  principally 
Action  of  the  directed  towards  aiding  their  countrv-women 

Associate  Mem 
bers  in  different  to   methodize   and   enlarge   their   plans    of 

parts   of  the          ,-\  -i  •  •>  •    • 

country.  gathering    supplies,   and    in    organizing   a 

system  by  which  the  depots,  at  all  the  large  centres, 
should  be  kept  replenished.  In  Boston,  the  Associates 
of  the  Commission  transferred  their  work,  at  an  early 
Boston,  day,  to  the  New  England  Women's  Auxil 

iary  Association,  an  organization  conspicuous,  during 
the  whole  war  for  its  vigor  and  energy.  By  its  active 
efforts,  Aid  Societies,  tributary  to  its  depot,  were 
established  throughout  all  the  eastern  portion  of 
New  England,  and  it  thus  became,  to  use  the  words  of 
General  Meade,  "  one  of  the  principal  sources  whence 
flowed  the  inestimable  blessings  and  benefits  conferred 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  181 

by  that  noble  association  (the  Sanitary  Commission,) 
upon  the  sick  and  suffering  soldiers."  In  New  York, 
as  has  been  already  stated,  the  work  of  Army  relief 
was  begun  by  that  great  society,  the  Women's  Central 
Association  of  Relief.  Its  managers  soon  New  York, 
became  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  the  plans  and 
methods  adopted  by  the  Commission >  and  made  a 
formal  application  to  be  recognized  as  one  of  its 
Branches,  stipulating  only,  that  all  the  stores  accumu 
lated  in  its  depot  should  be  subject  to  the  orders  of  the 
proper  officers  of  the  Commission.  Their  request  was 
granted,  and  the  success  of  their  efforts  in  gathering 
supplies  was  as  great,  as  that  spirit  of  perfect  faith  in 
the  methods  of  the  Commission,  and  that  harmonious 
co-operation  with  it  in  all  its  work  which  marked  the 
whole  period  of  its  history.  It  laid  under  contribu 
tion  the  state  of  New  York,  and  apart  of  New  Jersey, 
and  it  soon  succeeded  in  establishing  a  network  of 
auxiliary  organizations  of  singular  efficiency  and  in 
fluence  throughout  those  states.  In  Philadelphia,  the 
work  of  gathering  supplies  from  benevo-  Philadelphia, 
lent  societies  and  individuals,  made  but  slow  progress, 
while  under  the  direct  charge  of  the  Associates. 
Their  zealous  efforts  to  support  the  general  policy  of 
the  Commission  were  rewarded,  however,  by  the  con 
tribution  of  large  sums  of  money,  by  which,  supplies 
of  a  kind  needed  in  the  army,  and  not  provided  by  the 
homes  of  the  country,  were  procured.  Following  the 
example  of  Boston  and  New  York,  it  was  determined 
to  transfer  the  whole  business  of  collecting  supplies  in 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware  and  Western  New  Jersey  to  a 
number  of  ladies  who  afterwards  took  the  name  of  the 


182  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

"  Women's  Pennsylvania  Branch."  This  society 
prosecuted  its  labors  with  great  zeal  during  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  war.  It  established,  in  the  district 
under  its  special  jurisdiction  more  than  three  hundred 
and  fifty  Aid  Societies  tributary  to  it.  From  these 
societies  a  vast  amount  of  valuable  contributions  was 
received  which  aided  materially  in  the  support  of  the 
great  supply  work  of  the  Commission.  These  three 
associations  became  the  great  centres  of  supply,  by 
which  such  wants  of  the  armies  operating  east  of  the 
mountains  as  could  be  provided  for  by  contributions  in 
kind,  were  met. 

While  the  Associate  Members  in  each  of  these  three 
cities  aided  and  encouraged  by  their  influence  the 
prosecution  of  this  supply  work  after  its  active  man 
agement  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  women,  the 
co-operation  in  it  of  those  resident  in  Philadelphia  was 
more  direct  and  constant  than  anywhere  else.  "  The 
Women's  Pennsylvania  Branch"  industriously  engaged 
in  that  portion  of  it  which  embraced  the  collection 
of  articles  from  its  numerous  tributaries,  and  the  dis 
covery  of  new  sources  of  supply.  The  management 
and  disposal  of  these  supplies  so  as  to  meet  the  requi 
sitions  of  the  Central  Office  at  Washington,  and  the 
wants  of  local  military  Hospitals,  besides  an  import 
ant  Special  Relief  work  including  the  Hospital 
Directory,  the  Employment  Bureau,  and  the  War  Claim 
Agency,  remained  under  the  direct  control  of  the 
Associates.  The  details  of  this  great  business  were 
managed  by  their  Superintendent,  MR.  ROBERT  M. 
LEWIS,  a  gentleman  to  whose  rare  judgment,  wisely 
tempered  zeal,  and  persistent  earnestness  of  purpose 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  183 

was  due  in  a  great  measure  the  impulse  which  resulted 
in  gathering  money  and  supplies  of  the  value  of  more 
than  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars,  as  the  share  of 
Philadelphia  and  the  district  dependent  upon  it,  in 
maintaining  the  work  of  the  Commission.  For  more 
than  three  years  he  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Agency 
at  that  place  with  unceasing  assiduity  and  consummate 
skill,  abounding  in  labors,  which  had  no  fee  or  reward 
save  the  consciousness  that  he  was  among  the  foremost 
in  that  noble  army  of  workers  at  home,  which  was 
the  true  reserve  force  and  support  of  that  in  the  field. 

There  were,  besides  these,  a  large  number  of  socie 
ties,  not  affiliated  with  the  branches,  which  preferred 
to  send  their  local  contributions  direct  to  the  Central 
Depot  at  Washington. 

In  the  West,  also,  the  same  great  work  was  organ 
ized  by  the  Associate  Members  of  the  Commission. 
In  Cincinnati,  in  Columbus,  and  especially  in  the  West, 
in  Cleveland,  they  exhibited  a  zeal  and  enterprise 
which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  Aid  Societies  di 
recting  nearly  all  the  vast  resources  of  the  patriotic 
sympathy  of  the  great  State  of  Ohio  towards  the 
Army  through  the  channels  of  the  Commission. 
The  unwearied  zeal  and  personal  toil  of  the  Asso 
ciates  at  Cincinnati  after  the  battles  of  Fort  Donelson 
and  Shiloh  have  been  already  referred  to,  Cincinnati, 
and  they  there  set  an  example  of  a  good  work  which 
stimulated  the  friends  of  the  Commission  throughout 
the  West  to  similar  efforts,  as  occasion  called  for  them 
during  the  war.  The  extraordinary  success  of  the 
officers  of  the  Commission  in  Ohio  in  gathering  con 
tributions,  and  the  wonderful  energy  which  they  dis- 


184  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

played  in  placing  them  at  the  disposal  of  the  sol 
dier  just  when  most  needed,  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  Legislature  of  that  state,  and  received  its  official 
commendation  and  approval.  The  North-Western 
Chicago,  Branch  of  the  Commission  at  Chicago  was 
one  of  the  most  efficient  of  all  its  auxiliaries  in  collecting 
supplies,  and  its  various  tributaries  scattered  through 
out  the  states  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  did  more 
for  the  relief  of  the  soldier,  probably,  in  proportion  to 
their  means,  than  those  of  any  other  section  of  the 
country.  Nowhere  had  the  Commission  warmer  or 
more  enthusiastic  friends  than  at  Chicago.  It  was  most 
fortunate  in  enlisting  at  an  early  period  the  active  sym 
pathy  of  some  of  the  most  influential  and  trusted  men 
in  that  important  place.  The  names  of  the  gentlemen 
who  conducted  the  operation  of  its  Agency  there,  Judge 
Skinner,  Mr.  E.  B.  McCagg,  and  Mr.  E.  W.  Blatch- 
ford,  were  alone  a  tower  of  strength  to  its  cause  through 
out  the  North-  West,  and  the  Commission  reaped  the 
benefit,  in  the  vast  contributions  of  that  region,  of 
their  wide-spread  reputation  and  active  exertions. 

The  history  of  these  Aid  Societies  forms  in  itself  a 
wonderful  chapter  in  the  annals  of  philanthropic  labor. 
General  results  It  has  seemed  to  the  Commission  of  such 

of  the  supply  or-  .         . 

special  interest  and  importance  as  to  require, 


for  its  full  development  and  illustration,  a  distinct 
volume  in  which  a  detailed  account  of  the  methods  and 
results  of  their  operations  should  be  presented.  It  is 
impossible,  in  any  other  way,  to  do  justice  to  the  vast 
labors  of  those  who  conducted  them,  or  to  present  such 
a  lesson  of  this  great  mode  of  organizing  popular  be 
nevolence  as  may  be  useful  to  posterity.  These  asso- 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  185 

ciations,  with  their  affiliated  tributaries,  formed,  in  an 
important  sense,  the  main  stem  or  trunk  of  the  Com 
mission,  rather  than  its  branches,  for  through  them 
chiefly  flowed  that  stream  of  life-giving  nourishment 
which  maintained  the  whole  body  in  perpetual  vigor. 
Without  them,  indeed,  that  body  might  have  had  but  a 
dwarfish  growth.  It  is  not  easy,  therefore,  to  overrate 
the  importance  of  their  efforts  as  shaping  the  policy  and 
results  of  one  of  the  most  important  departments  of  the 
Commission's  work.  It  might  indeed  be  an  interesting- 
subject  of  speculation  to  discuss  the  probability  of  its 
success  as  an  organization,  had  it  confined  itself  wholly 
to  its  original  design  of  securing  the  adoption  of  a 
thorough  preventive  service.  Whether  popular  senti 
ment  was  at  any  time  during  the  war  so  enlightened 
as  to  appreciate  fully  the  paramount  necessity  of  such 
a  service,  and  to  provide  the  means  of  carrying  it 
on,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  forms  of  Army  relief, 
may  well  admit  of  a  doubt.  But  this  appeal  for  ar 
ticles  to  supply  wants,  which  were  obvious  to  the  most 
unreflecting,  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  great 
popular  heart,  and  it  resulted  not  only  in  obtaining 
means  for  supplying  these  special  wants,  but  also,  in 
directly,  in  furnishing  the  Commission's  Treasury  with 
money,  by  which  the  other  and  more  scientific  portions 
of  its  work  were  supported.  In  this  way,  the  labors  of 
these  Societies  were  of  inestimable  service  in  educating 
the  public  mind  to  a  due  conception  of  the  character 
and  value  of  the  Commission's  theory,  and  of  the  wide 
scope  of  its  operations.  It  is  impossible  to  do  full  justice 
to  the  patient  and  untiring  energy,  zeal  and  devotion 
of  the  members  of  these  societies,  or  to  the  systematic, 


24 


186  UNITED   STATES    SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

intelligent,  and  successful  methods  of  conducting  their 
operations  which  distinguished  them  during  the  war. 
Where  these  qualities  were  so  conspicuous  among  the 
multitudes  engaged  in  this  sacred  work  of  self-denial, 
it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  to  individuals  as  bright 
and  shining  examples  of  their  influence,  still  justice 
and  gratitude  alike  demand  from  the  Commission  the 
avowal  of  its  conviction,  that  to  the  enlightened  and 
zealous  labors  of  such  women  as  Miss  May  and  Miss 
Stevenson,  at  Boston,  Miss  Collins  and  Miss  Schuyler 
at  JN"ew  York,  Mrs.  Grier  and  Mrs.  Moore  at  Philadel 
phia,  Mrs.  Rouse  and  Miss  Brayton  at  Cleveland,  Miss 
Campbell  at  Detroit,  and  Mrs.  Hoge  and  Mrs.  Liver- 
more  at  Chicago,  is  due  not  merely  a  large  proportion 
of  the  supplies  distributed  in  the  Army,  but  also  much 
of  that  enthusiastic  spirit  of  devotion  to  its  general 
policy  as  an  agent  and  exponent  of  popular  sympathy, 
which  pervaded  all  classes  during  the  war. 

When  it  was  determined  to  induce  these  Soldiers' 
Aid  Societies  to  become  tributary  to  the  Commission, 
and  to  adopt  its  channels  as  the  best  means  of  distri 
buting  their  gifts,  it  was  found  that  a  larger  number 
than  was  supposed  had  already  sprung  into  existence, 
and  were  actively  working.  It  needed  but  little  effort 
to  convince  their  members  that  the  agency  for  which 
they  had  been  seeking,  as  the  best  almoner  of  their 
bounty,  was  close  at  hand.  The  peculiar  advantages 
which  the  Commission  possessed  for  distributing  wisely 
and  with  the  best  practical  results,  contributions  for 
the  relief  of  the  soldier  were  set  forth  in  numerous 
circulars  and  other  documents.  Very  soon,  most  of 
these  societies  became  auxiliary  to  the  Commission,  and 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  187 

their  gifts  soon  swelled  the  amount  of  its  stores  to  an 
extent  far  beyond  what  had  been  anticipated  by  the 
most  sanguine.  Various  other  means  were  taken  to 
quicken  and  enlighten  the  zeal  and  labors  of  the 
members  of  these  societies.  A  complete  canvassing 
system  of  canvassing  by  means  of  special  AsentSi 
Agents  was  adopted.  These  Agents  made  frequent 
visits  to  the  societies,  presented  statements  of  the 
needs  of  the  soldier,  explained  the  modes  adopted  in 
giving  relief,  and  frequently  illustrated  the  value 
of  the  work  in  the  Hospital,  and  on  the  battle-field 
by  relating  incidents  occurring  within  their  own 
personal  observation.  A  constant  correspondence 
was  kept  up  concerning  the  work  in  which  they  were 
engaged  between  the  officers  of  the  great  central  re 
ceiving  depots  and  their  tributary  branches,  and  thus 
each  remote  society  was  kept  fully  informed  of  the 
special  needs  of  the  soldier  at  particular  periods  or  in 
particular  localities,  as  observed  by  the  agents  of  the 
Commission  engaged  in  the  work  of  distribution.  In 
order  more  fully  to  enlighten  those  upon  whom  the 
Commission  depended  for  its  stock  of  supplies,  two 
periodical  publications,  one  at  the  West,  the  Sanitary  Be- 

_„  porter  and  Sani- 

Sanitary  Reporter,  the  other  at  the  lLast,  the  tary  Bulletin. 
Sanitary  Bulletin,  were  established.  They  were  issued 
every  two  weeks,  and  containing  in  the  letters  and 
reports  of  the  Agents  of  the  Commission  with  the 
Army  in  the  field,  the  latest  accounts  of  its  actual 
work,  they  carried  to  each  society  the  evidence  of  the 
practical  results  of  its  labors.  At  the  meetings  of 
these  societies,  it  was  customary  to  read  such  portions 
of  these  publications  as  appeared  most  likely  to  in- 


188  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

terest  and  encourage  those  who  were  working  for  the 
soldier. 

By  these  varied  means,  the  zeal  of  the  women  of 
the  country  was  kept  alive,  and  their  faith  in  the 
toAUUhd*  methods  adopted  by  the  Commission,  was 
ties  in  favor  of  preserved  and  strengthened.  The  Village 

the   Natio  a  a  1      »  •  ••   o,       .    .  .  .      , 

causei  Aid  bociety  or  sewing  circle  soon  became  the 

nucleus  of  the  patriotic  feeling,  and  self-sacrificing 
efforts  of  the  particular  locality  in  which  it  was  held. 
As  the  war  went  on,  these  societies,  so  far  from  di 
minishing  in  numbers  or  efficiency  or  in  the  amount 
of  their  contributions,  actually  increased  in  all  these 
respects,  with  every  increasing  demand  on  their  energy 
and  resources.  The  extraordinary  constancy  which 
was  maintained  by  most  of  them  during  the  war,  in 
their  efforts  to  aid  the  soldier,  was  one  of  their  most 
remarkable  characteristics.  The  women  had  evidently 
enlisted  for  the  war ;  there  was  nothing  intermittent  or 
spasmodic  about  their  labors,  their  zeal  kept  pace  with 
the  triumphant  march  of  their  brethren  in  the  field 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt,  that  had  the  struggle  con 
tinued  for  years  longer,  the  women  of  the  country  would 
have  been  found  just  as  persistent  in  their  self-denying 
labors,  as  when  their  enthusiasm  had  been  first  roused. 
This  unmistakeable  feeling,  thus  exhibited,  had,  of 
course,  a  far  deeper  significance,  and  a  far  wider  in 
fluence  than  that  which  resulted  in  merely  sending 
gifts  to  the  soldier.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the 
existence  and  support  of  such  a  society,  in  any  par 
ticular  town  or  village  during  the  war,  exercised  there 
a  powerful  effect  upon  public  opinion  in  favor  of  sus 
taining  the  National  cause.  It  was  impossible  to  work 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  189 

constantly  and  in  a  self-sacrificing  spirit,  for  the  relief 
of  the  soldier,  without  imbibing  a  feeling  of  intense 
sympathy  for  the  cause  which  he  was  defending. 
Such  a  spirit  could  not  be  confined  to  the  women,  and 
its  legitimate  result  was,  to  encourage  husbands  and 
brothers  in  loyal  devotion,  by  the  example  of  their 
wives  and  sisters.  Among  the  many  influences  which 
contributed  to  the  general  support  of  the  Government 
during  the  war,  especially  in  the  rural  districts,  one  of 
the  foremost  unquestionably  was  an  intense  desire,  on 
the  part  of  those  who  stayed  at  home  to  aid  and 
encourage  those  of  their  friends,  who  were  absent  in  the 
Army.  In  maintaining  so  healthy  a  sentiment,  it  will 
readily  be  seen,  that  these  efforts  of  the  women  were 
not  without  a  controlling  power.  Their  labors  indeed, 
viewed  in  this  more  general  light,  were  very  significant 
in  another  aspect.  The  Aid  Societies  of  the  Sanitary 
Commission  worked  for  the  National  cause  because 
they  worked  for  the  National  soldier  only.  Nothing 
had  been  more  difficult,  at  first,  than  to  divert  the 
warm  impulses  of  the  hearts  of  women  from  efforts  to 
minister  to  the  necessities  of  those,  who,  going  from 
their  own  households,  seemed  to  have  peculiar  and 
special  claims  upon  their  sympathy.  But  when  they 
were  convinced,  not  merely  that  distribution  to  par 
ticular  individuals  or  regiments  was  impracticable,  but 
also  that  a  true  and  lofty  conception  of  their  duty  re 
quired  them  to  recognize  all  National  soldiers  as  equally 
deserving  their  aid,  they  gave  a  practical  illustration 
of  their  devotion  to  the  National  idea  in  its  broadest 
sense.  The  heresy  of  state  sovereignty  with  its 
natural  fruit  of  local  jealousies  and  a  petty,  narrow, 


190  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

unnational  spirit,  had  its  counterpart  in  much  that  was 
observed  here  while  we  were  engaged  in  a  terrible 
struggle  to  preserve  our  own  life,  by  extirpating  every 
trace  of  so  poisonous  an  element.  Some  allusion  has 
already  been  made  to  its  hurtful  influence  as  exhibited 
in  the  attempt  of  some  of  the  State  Governments  to 
provide  for  the  care  of  their  own  sick  and  wounded 
exclusively,  and  sectional  jealousies  and  pretensions,  as 
is  well  known,  fomented  too  often  by  a  pure  spirit  of 
demagogueism,  appeared  in  a  much  more  offensive 
form  during  the  war.  The  imperious  need  of  the  time 
was  the  inculcation  of  a  thoroughly  National  senti 
ment  which,  above  and  beyond  everything  else,  should 
recognize  only  one  country  and  one  destiny.  This 
principle  once  thoroughly  rooted  in  the  popular  mind, 
everything  was  safe,  and  the  result  of  the  struggle 
could  not  be  doubtful.  The  Sanitary  Commission,  not 
only  because  it  was  a  necessity  in  the  practical  admin 
istration  of  its  work,  and  because  it  was  always  re 
garded  by  its  officers  as  a  species  of  bureau  of  the 
National  Government,  but  because  it  anxiously  desired 
to  uphold  National  principles  and  a  National  policy, 
strove  unceasingly,  both  in  its  appeals  to  its  constitu 
ents  for  supplies,  and  in  its  distribution  of  them  in  the 
Army,  to  recognize  in  every  man  who  wore  the  uniform, 
a  National  soldier  only.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
its  constant  adherence  to  this  principle  in  all  its  methods 
and  operations,  contributed  powerfully  to  foster  that 
intense  spirit  of  nationality,  which,  un  weakened  by  the 
fierce  strife  of  parties,  brought  us  safely  through  the 
war. 

The  interest  of  the  communities,  in  the  midst  of 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL   SUPPLIES.  191 

which  these  societies  were  working,  was  further  stimu 
lated  by  lectures,  concerts  and  other  exhibi-  powerful  effect 
tions  of  various  kinds,  the  claim  of  the  J[^t8a^^ 
soldier  on  the  gratitude  of  those  who  were  ties. 
at  home  being  always  the  inspiring  theme  on  such  occa 
sion.  By  expedients  of  this  sort,  their  treasuries 
were  kept  filled,  their  contributions  in  clothing  and 
all  kinds  of  supplies  became  abundant,  and  an  un 
flagging  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the 
soldier,  was  perpetually  kept  alive.  An  intelli 
gent  appreciation  of  his  particular  wants,  was  also  one 
of  the  characteristics  of  these  organizations.  Did 
scurvy  invade  the  Army,  and  threaten  to  paralyze  its 
efficiency,  circulars  were  issued  from  the  Head  Quar 
ters  of  the  Commission,  asking  for  contributions  of 
fresh  vegetables,  in  order  that  the  dreaded  evil  might 
be  extirpated.  In  response  to  these  appeals,  contained 
in  what  were  called  in  the  history  of  the  Commission, 
"Potato  Circulars"  and  "Onion  Circulars,"  thousands 
of  barrels  of  these  esculents  were  gathered  in  a  short 
time  by  the  members  of  these  societies  from  the  farmers 
of  the  North-west,  and  sent  without  delay  to  the  distant 
fields  of  military  operations,  where  the  effect  they  pro 
duced  may  be  inferred  from  the  declaration  of  one  of  our 
most  distinguished  Generals,  that  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission  had  saved  by  these  means  the  Army  engaged 
in  the  siege  of  Yicksburg.  The  ability  to  perform 
such  a  work  was  due  entirely  to  the  perfect  system 
adopted  by  the  Commission  in  organizing  the  benevo 
lence  of  the  country. 

The  ingenuity  of  the  women   in  discovering  new 
methods  of  enlisting  the  sympathy  and  interest  of  the 


192  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

Sanitary  Fairs  people  in  working  for  the  soldier,  when  the 
old  ones  had  somewhat  lost  their  freshness,  was  very 
remarkable.  The  ordinary,  regular,  steady  work  of 
these  societies  had  resulted  in  very  large  contributions. 
As  time  went  on,  their  production,  as  we  have  said,  so 
far  from  diminishing  increased,  notwithstanding  the 
gradual  exhaustion  of  home  supplies,  and  the  con 
stantly  advancing  price  of  materials.  Still  the  wants 
which  prevailed  during  the  campaigns  of  1863  had 
been  so  great  and  so  urgent,  and  the  prospect  of  an  in 
creasing  demand  in  the  future  seemed  so  imminent,  that 
it  was  determined  to  adopt  a  bold  experiment  for  re 
plenishing  the  funds  of  the  Commission,  and  to  test  the 
strength  of  that  public  interest  which  had  been  awak 
ened  in  the  general  subject  of  Army  Relief.  This  was 
no  less  than  an  attempt  to  organize,  on  a  grand  scale, 
those  novel  exhibitions  popularly  termed  "Sanitary 
Fairs,"  the  unparalleled  success  of  which  was  not  only 
a  most  remarkable  proof  of  popular  confidence  in 
the  plans  of  the  Commission,  but  also  one  of  the 
most  striking  illustrations  of  the  profound  gratitude 
and  affection  felt  by  the  popular  heart  towards  the 
soldier  which  occurred  during  the  war.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  here  to  give  a  detailed  account  of  these  bril 
liant  displays  of  patriotic  sympathy.  That  task  is  in 
other  and  competent  hands.  The  material  aid  which 
was  furnished  by  these  Fairs  was  hardly  more  oppor 
tune,  than  the  evidence  they  afforded  of  the  undimin- 
ished  interest  which  was  felt  in  the  welfare  of  the  sol 
dier  was  gratifying.  Beginning  at  Chicago  in  the  au 
tumn  of  1863,  these  Fairs,  held  afterwards  at  Cincin 
nati,  Cleveland,  New  York,  Boston,  Brooklyn,  Phila- 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  193 

delphia,  Pittsburg,  and  Albany,  added  more  than 
three  millions  of  dollars  to  the  funds  of  the  Commis 
sion  and  its  branches  throughout  the  country.  It  need 
hardly  be  said,  that  the  whole  conception  of  these  great 
exhibitions  was  as  peculiarly  novel  and  American  as 
their  success  was  unexampled.  Everything  was  crowded 
into  them  which  the  busy  brains,  or  the  warm 
hearts  or  the  skillful  hands  of  our  country-women  could 
create  or  gather  as  a  fit  offering  of  their  gratitude  to 
the  soldier.  The  products  of  the  farm,  the  manufactory, 
the  machine  shop,  the  delicate  workmanship  of  the 
skilled  artisan,  works  of  art  and  beauty,  of  taste 
and  utility,  represented  there  the  sympathy  of  all 
classes  of  the  community  for  the  suffering  soldier. 
The  months  of  previous  preparation,  necessary  to 
perfect  the  arrangements  for  these  gigantic  exhibitions, 
the  appeals  to  all  classes  through  large  districts  of 
country  for  contributions,  the  stirring  events  of  the 
campaigns  in  progress,  all  helped  with  wonderful 
effect,  to  turn  the  thoughts  of  every  one  into  the  same 
channel,  and  to  keep  alive  an  excitement  and  interest 
in  the  work,  which  soon  became  contagious,  and  from 
the  influence  of  which  few  escaped.  The  quiet,  unas 
suming  but  hard-working  Village  Aid  Societies  had 
suddenly  become  partners  in  a  grand  scheme  which 
appealed  not  only  to  their  long-tried  sympathy  for  the 
soldier,  but  to  their  local  pride,  and  to  that  love  of 
novelty  and  excitement,  which  is  so  wonderful  a 
stimulus  of  activity  in  all  undertakings.  It  was 
feared  at  one  time,  by  the  cooler  and  wiser  heads  of 
the  Commission,  that  the  extraordinary  labors  attend 
ant  upon  preparing  and  conducting  these  great  Fairs, 


25 


194  UNITED    STATES   SANITAKY    COMMISSION. 

would  inevitably  be  followed  by  a  reaction,  and  that 
the  old  normal,  steady  system  of  gathering  supplies, 
which  had  been  in  use  since  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
would  seem  tame  and  spiritless  after  the  excitement 
had  passed.  Such  an  apprehension,  however,  proved 
groundless.  It  seemed,  after  all,  that  the  efforts 
of  the  women,  on  behalf  of  the  soldier  were  based  on 
no  transient  emotions,  but  on  sober  convictions  of  duty. 
As  long  as  the  need  lasted  throughout  the  war,  just  so 
long  were  they  ready,  with  warm  hearts  and  full  hands, 
to  minister  to  him.  Thus,  the  surplus  stock  of  the 
homes  of  country,  in  every  description  of  clothing  and 
bedding,  and  in  articles  of  delicate  food,  intended  for 
the  comfort  of  the  sick,  was  poured  with  a  lavish 
bounty  into  the  depots  of  the  Commission.  From 
many  of  these  homes  where  the  contributions  in  kind 
appeared  smallest,  the  spirit  which  dictated  the  offer 
ing  was  really  the  grandest  and  most  self-sacrificing, 
for  not  seldom  they  represented  the  widow's  mite,  cheer 
fully  shared  with  those,  who  were  supposed  to  be  more 
needy  than  herself. 

These  were  some  of  the  means  by  which  the  Com 
mission  was  able  not  only  to  rouse  the  patriotic  sym- 
other  services  pathy  of  the  masses  in  different  sections 
Members,01'  *  of  the  country,  but  also,  so  to  guide  the 
strong  impulse  of  home  affection  as  to  render  it  the 
great  source  of  the  power  wielded  by  it  in  the 
work  in  which  it  was  engaged.  The  Aid  Societies  as 
has  been  already  mentioned,  were  placed  at  first 
under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  Associate  Members, 
residing  in  different  localities.  Practically,  however, 
after  their  work  began,  their  relations  were  with  the 


SUPPLEMENTAL    HOSPITAL    SUPPLIES.  195 

Central  offices  of  the  Commission,  from  whom  they 
received  instructions  as  to  special  wants,  and  in  obedi 
ence  to  whose  requisition,  they  sent  their  accumulated 
stores  to  the  distributing  depots.  But  the  functions 
and  duties  of  the  Associate  Members  did  not,  by  any 
means,  end  here.  The  valuable  assistance,  rendered 
by  some  of  them,  in  the  preparation  of  monographs 
on  Medical  and  Surgical  subjects,  for  distribution 
among  the  Army  Surgeons,  has  already  been  noticed. 
As  they  were  men  of  position  and  influence,  in  their 
respective  communities,  they  were  looked  to,  also,  as 
Agents  for  devising  means  for  replenishing  the  treas 
ury  of  the  Commission.  A  vast  amount  of  money, 
was  required,  not  merely  to  place  the  contributions  in 
kind  of  the  Aid  Societies  in  the  hands  of  the  soldier, 
and  to  purchase  those  articles  that  could  not  be  fur 
nished  by  them,  but  also,  for  the  support  of  the 
general  work  of  the  Commission.  Each  Branch  had 
besides,  its  local  treasury,  and  the  funds  belonging  to 
it  were  used  not  only  for  the  purchase  of  those 
articles,  for  which  requisition  was  made  by  the 
central  authorities,  but  also  for  the  purpose  of  afford 
ing  relief  to  local  Military  Hospitals,  and  in  aid 
ing  soldiers  in  irregular  circumstances.  This  last 
branch  of  their  service,  involved  great  labor  in 
many  parts  of  the  country.  In  the  large  cities 
particularly,  where  numbers  of  troops  were  constantly 
passing  and  repassing,  and  Hospitals  were  established, 
which  were  crowded  with  patients  during  the  war,  the 
Branches  found  it  necessary  to  establish  Homes 
and  Lodges,  and  Bureaus  of  information,  supported 
by  funds  from  their  own  treasuries.  These  various 


196  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

means  of  relief  proved  as  useful  to  the  particular 
objects  of  their  care,  as  the  similar  establishments 
managed  by  the  Commission  at  points  nearer  to  the 
scene  of  hostilities. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  CALIFORNIA  AND  THE  PACIFIC  COAST. 

WHEN  the  Sanitary  Commission  entered  upon  its 
undertaking,  seventy-five  thousand  men  had  been 
called  into  the  field,  and  it  was  hoped  they  original  design 

of  the  Sanitary 

would  prove  sufficient  to  put  down  the  commission, 
Rebellion.  This  army  then  seemed  a  very  large  one, 
and  it  was  solicitude  for  only  seventy-five  thousand 
troops  that  called  the  Sanitary  Commission  into  ex 
istence.  Fifty  thousand  dollars,  it  was  thought, — not 
without  grounds, — would  suffice  to  enable  a  scientific 
Commission  to  render  all  the  services  such  an 
Army  could  require  from  a  careful  study  of  the 
whole  subject  of  military  hygiene,  from  thorough 
inspection,  and  such  systematic  appeals  to  the  War 
Department  and  the  Medical  Bureau,  as  would  keep 
the  authorities  accurately  informed  as  to  the  dangers, 
wants,  and  deficiencies  of  each  regiment,  camp,  and 
hospital,  and  secure  the  prompt  and  efficient  super 
vision  of  the  Military  and  Medical  authorities  over 
the  health,  life  and  comfort  of  the  men. 

It  was  with  these  hopes  and  views,  and  with  this 
inadequate  idea  of  the  cost  of  its  undertaking  Limited  amount 
that  the  Sanitary  Commission  first  got  to  °^J}naetythe 
work.  For  a  few  months  its  labors  were  °utset- 

197 


198  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

very  much  confined  to  camp  inspections,  and  to  matters 
strictly  scientific  and  preventive.  To  what  belongs 
directly  to  camp  police,  it  added  a  careful  re-examina 
tion  of  the  questions  of  diet  and  cooking,  of  quarters 
and  tents,  of  uniforms  and  knapsacks  and  shoes,  as 
affecting  comfort  and  endurance,  and  examined  an  im 
mense  number  of  patented  inventions  having  reference 
sometimes  to  camp  equipage,  sometimes  to  prepara 
tions  of  food.  Its  monthly  expenses  did  not  exceed  for 
the  first  six  months  an  average  of  five  thousand  dollars. 
From  the  first,  boxes  and  bales  of  comforts  for  the 
soldiers  had  been  forwarded  to  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
si°n>  ^u^  n0^  ^n  sucn  quantities  as  to  em- 
barrass  its  small  depot,  or  to  give  any  special 
trouble  in  distributing  them.  For  the  first  six  months 
neither  the  Eastern  nor  the  Western  Army  went  far 
enough  from  home  to  make  any  general  agency  indis 
pensable.  But  in  the  second  six  months,  the  supplies 
poured  into  the  hands  of  the  Commission  became 
cumbrous  in  quantity,  and  the  Commission  began 
gradually  to  feel  how  much  it  was  depended  upon  to 
meet  the  wants  of  an  ever-growing  army,  which  the 
longer  it  was  in  the  field,  and  the  further  it  went  from 
its  base,  became  more  deficient  in  the  ordinary  appli 
ances  of  personal  comfort  and  safety,  more  exposed  to 
sickness,  and  more  dependent  on  the  nation's  bounty 
to  be  extended  to  it  through  some  vehicle  more  flexible 
than  the  Commissariat  and  Quartermaster's  Depart 
ments. 

There  was  a  double  embarrassment  which  the  Sani 
tary  Commission  encountered  at  this  stage  of  its  ex 
istence. 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  199 

Its  own  success  in  drawing  to  itself  supplies,  in 
volved  the  necessity  of  a  costly  machinery  of  store 
houses,  officers,  accountants,  agents  of  in-  More  money  re- 
spection  and  distribution,  of  wagons  and  ^nUrgTd 
horses, — which  it  had  no  obvious  means  of  Plans- 
creating  and  supporting.  The  people  freely  gave  their 
supplies — made  with  their  own  hands,  or  raised  on 
their  own  farms.  But  for  one  dollar  in  money  they 
found  it  easy  to  raise  and  send  forward  ten  dollars 
worth  of  supplies.  Such  was  the  disproportion  of 
supplies  to  the  cost  of  their  distribution,  that  the 
Commission  trembled  at  the  responsibility  it  had  as 
sumed,  and  often  thought  the  day  near  at  hand  when  it 
must  abandon  its  enterprise.  Another  embarrassment 
arose  from  the  discovery  that  the  more  it  did, and  the 
better  it  did  it — the  more  it  must  do.  The  field  kept 
continually  widening.  As  its  labors  became  known  and 
appreciated,  it  was  more  and  more  drawn  upon  by  the 
army — and  every  successful  effort  it  made  to  distribute 
its  supplies,  only  made  new  and  increased  efforts 
necessary.  The  state  of  its  treasury  meanwhile  com 
pelled  it  to  be  most  cautious.  It  could  form  no 
plans  with  boldness  for  the  want  of  means.  The 
people  had  not  in  the  first  year  of  the  war,  become 
accustomed  to  the  immense  expenses  which  war 
demands.  The  Governmental  reports  had  not  then 
familiarized  their  ears  with  hundreds  of  millions, 
nor  had  the  expansion  of  the  currency  lessened 
their  sense  of  the  value  of  money.  The  Treasury 
of  the  Commission  therefore,  although  always  fed 
with  a  steady  stream  of  small  gifts,  was  still  always 
threatened  with  exhaustion  because  its  means  ran  out 


200  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

nearly  as  fast  as  they  ran  in,  and  the  outlay  seemed 
increasing  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  income. 

It  was  just  at  this  crisis  when  the  Commission's  plans 
for  a  thoroughly  national  work  were  embarrassed  with 
Contribution  of  the  practical  difficulties  of  a  feeble  and  in- 
rnsanTdoiia^  adequate  supply  of  money— which  there 
from  California,  appeared  to  be  no  adequate  means  of  increas 
ing;  when  a  system  of  canvassing  the  country  for  money 
and  supplies  was  hindered  by  the  want  of  means  to 
support  canvassers  in  the  home  field ;  when  the  desire 
to  prevent  local  associations  and  State  Agencies  from 
Becoming  their  own  distributors  was  thwarted  by  an 
inability  to  announce  that  the  Commission  had  agents 
of  its  own  in  the  military  field,  numerous  enough 
and  at  so  many  different  points,  as  to  qualify  it 
to  assume  the  effective  distribution  of  all  the 
Nation's  supplementary  supplies ;  when  the  want  of 
money  in  considerable  advance  of  its  current  expenses 
forbade  it  from  laying  plans  ahead,  with  that  breadth, 
forethought  and  wisdom  which  it  knew  the  case  re 
quired — it  was  just  at  this  point  of  time,  and  at  this 
crisis  in  its  history,  when  three  months  more  of  such 
trials  as  had  embarrassed  the  Commission  for  the  three 
months  preceding,  would  have  probably  brought  it  to 
a  premature  death,  that  the  news  reached  the  public 
that  the  Mayor  of  San  Francisco  had  telegraphed 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  that  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  had  been  raised  in  that  city  for  the, 
benefit  of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  and  had  asked  his 
advice  through  what  channel  this  magnificent  contri 
bution  should  be  applied.  The  President  consulted 
the  Surgeon-General,  Dr.  Hammond,  who  immediately 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  201 

recommended  that  the  Sanitary  Commission  should  be 
selected  as  the  almoner  of  California's  bounty.  The 
President  adopted  the  advice,  and  on  October  14th, 
1862,  the  President  and  Treasurer  of  the  Commission 
received  a  draft  on  Eugene  Kelly  &  Co.,  of  New 
York,  drawn  by  Donahoe,  Ralston  &  Co.,  of  San 
Francisco,  and  dated  September  19th,  1862,  for  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  current  funds ! 

This  hundred  thousand  dollars,  with  all  it  im 
plied,  was  the  making  and  saving  of  the  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission.  Up  to  that  state  of  the 
period  the  largest  cash  balance  in  the 
treasury  at  the  end  of  any  month  had  time, 
been  twenty-four  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty- 
three  dollars,  (April  30,  1862).  The  whole  receipts 
to  October  1,  1862,  had  been  within  one  hundred 
and  seventy  thousand  dollars ;  showing  for  fifteen 
months  and  over,  only  an  'average  sum  of  about 
eleven  thousand  dollars  of  cash,  to  carry  on  the 
work  with.  The  supplies  were  coming  in  very  dispro 
portionately  to  the  money,  and  without  money  to  move 
and  manage  them  were  useless.  On  October  1st,  1862, 
the  balance  in  the  treasury  was  only  sixteen  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  twenty -three  dollars  and  ninety- 
one  cents,  while  the  disbursements  of  the  previous 
month  had  been  twenty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and 
forty-six  dollars  and  one  cent,  and  the  receipts  only 
twenty  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixteen  dollars  and 
eighty  cents.  With  so  small  a  margin  of  resources  as 
the  Commission  had  during  the  first  fifteen  months  of 
its  existence,  it  is  easy  to  infer  how  contracted  its  enter 
prise,  and  constrained  its  policy  necessarily  were — and 

26 


202  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

how  little  vigor  it  had  to  contend  with  State  Associa 
tions  and  local  Relief  enterprises. 

When  then  on  October  14,  1862,  the  Commission 
received  the  magnificent  sum  of  one  hundred  thou- 
Effect  of  this  san(l  dollars,  as  its  first  contribution  from 
Contribution,  California,  more  than  half  as  much  as  it  had 
received  in  all,  up  to  that  date,  it  can  readily  be  un 
derstood  how  it  was  at  once  emboldened  to  break  the 
fetters  which  doubt  and  anxiety  had  fastened  upon  its 
policy ;  how  strengthened  it  was  in  its  ability  to  main 
tain  its  difficult  and  unpopular  plan  of  resisting 
sectional  schemes  of  Relief  for  special  commands  in  the 
Army  ;  how  much  abler  it  was  to  contend  with  the  jeal 
ousies  and  rivalries  of  at  least  one  powerful  Branch 
which  was  more  than  half- disposed  to  go  into  the  field 
itself  as  an  independent  organization,  and  utterly  de 
stroy  the  unity  of  the  Commission's  operations ;  how 
enlarged  its  capacity  of  extending  and  perfecting  its 
machinery  in  all  parts  of  the  Army,  so  as  to  leave  all 
Relief  Associations  without  excuse  for  withholding  their 
supplies  on  the  ground  of  inadequate  arrangements  for 
their  distribution,  on  the  part  of  the  Commission. 

The  news  of  California's  noble  contribution  to  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission  arrested  universal 
General  atteu-  attention,  and  fastened  the  eyes  and  the  con- 
it,° HotTttffecZ  ndence  of  tne  wavering  upon  it.  It  was  the 
edits  resources,  first  splendid  thing  in  the  way  of  beneficence 
which  had  been  done  for  the  soldiers.  It  excited  emu 
lation,  and  was  at  once  imitated.  It  placed  the  Commis 
sion  so  far  before  all  local  Relief  Societies  in  its  re 
sources,  as  to  make  it  plain  that  rivalry  with  it  was 
useless.  And  the  moment  that  it  appeared  plain  that 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  203 

the  Commission  was  going  to  succeed,  even  the  luke 
warm  were  stimulated  to  place  themselves  among  its 
supporters.  The  total  receipts  went  up  from  October 
1,  to  November  1,  from  twenty  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  sixteen  dollars  and  eighty  cents,  to  two  hundred 
and  thirteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-four 
dollars  and  twenty-three  cents.  And  what  was  thus 
so  grandly  begun,  continued.  California  pleased  with 
her  own  humanity,  and  gratified  with  the  enthusiastic 
reception  her  munificence  had  met,  sent  another  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  fourteen  days  later.  The 
receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  Commission  for  the 
three  previous  months  had  been  as  follows : 

Receipts.  Disbursements.  Cash  Balance. 


August  1,1862 $24,381  46 

September  1,  1862 24,491  71 

October  1,  1862 20,916  80 


$16,613  50 
16,721  20 
26,646  01 


$14,682  61 
22,453  12 
16,723  91 


The  receipts,  disbursements  and  cash  balances  of  the 
next  three  months  will  sufficiently  exhibit  the  im 
mense  expansion  which  California  gold  had  produced 
in  the  operations  of  the  Commission,  and  which 
California  gold  from  that  date  to  the  close  of  the  war 
was  the  chief  means  of  enabling  the  Commission  to 
maintain. 

Receipts.  Disbursements.  Cash  Balance. 


November  1,  1862 $213,964  23 

December  1,  1862 103,406  18 

January  1,  1862 168,154  14 


$43,876  93 
64,774  99 
86,262  73 


$186,811  21 
225,442  40 
307,333  81 


From  this  date,  November  1,  1862,  there  was  not 
for  eight  months,  less  than  two  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  thousand  dollars  cash  balance  in  the  treasury  at 
the  close  of  each  month,  nor  with  the  exception  of  two 
months  (December  and  January,  1863-4)  ever  less 


204          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

than  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand  dollars. 
With  the  money  raised  by  products  of  the  Great 
Fairs, — the  other  grand  feeder  of  the  cash  resources  of 
the  Commission,  and  much  later  in  its  flow,  not  to  say 
greatly  stimulated  by  the  example  of  the  contri 
bution  from  the  Pacific  coast, — the  treasury  from 
April  1,  1864  to  the  close  of  its  active  operations, 
January  1,  1866,  while  at  one  time  it  had  a  balance 
of  one  million  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand 
six  hundred  and  sixty-nine  dollars  and  thirty-three 
cents  (July  1,  1864)  and  commonly  over  a  half  million, 
never  had  less  than  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
thousand  two  hundred  and  twelve  dollars  and  twenty- 
three  cents,  (August  1,  1865).  The  immediate  effect 
of  the  California  contribution  upon  the  disbursements 
of  the  Commission  (which  fairly  represent  its  activity 
and  usefulness)  is  most  striking.  From  fifty-four 
thousand  dollars  the  previous  three  months,  the  dis 
bursements  for  the  next  three  months,  went  up  to  one 
hundred  and  ninety-four  thousand  dollars,  or  nearly 
four  times  as  much.  And  the  possession  of  this  money 
stimulated  in  far  larger  proportion  the  contribution  of 
supplies  in  kind.  For  the  means  at  hand  to  canvass,  to 
advertise,  to  establish  Sanitary  Bulletins,  to  report  the 
work  of  the  Commission,  swelled  the  number  of  Aid 
Societies  and  consequently  the  flood  of  supplies,  and 
tasked  to  the  utmost,  the  expensive  machinery  which  the 
money-power  of  the  Commission  created,  to  apply  the 
generous  gifts  in  clothing  and  food  to  the  ever  increas 
ing  demands  of  our  immense  Army. 

It  is  very  doubtful  whether  if  California  and  the 
other  Pacific  States,  had  not  chosen  the  Sanitary  Com- 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM   CALIFORNIA.  205 

mission  for  their  almoner,  it  would  have  spirit  of  emuia- 
been  able  so  far  to  have  secured  the  conn-  ^^S 
dence  of  the  country  at  large,  as  to  have  be-  of  the  country, 
come  the  beneficiary  of  the  great  Fairs  which  supplied 
more  than  half  its  whole  cash  income.  The  immense 
national  advantage  in  a  struggle  for  unity,  of  a  com 
mon  enterprise  of  humanity  round  which  the  homes 
of  the  country  could  rally,  adding  thus  the  united 
strength  of  the  domestic  feeling  of  the  American 
people  to  its  political  and  military  power  in  the  coun 
cil  and  the  field — would  have  been  lost,  if  the  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission  had  not  succeeded.  It 
was  a  desperate  enterprise  to  attempt  to  unite  by  hu 
mane  feeling  what  was  so  disunited  by  distance  and  the 
disintegrating  tendencies  of  local  pride  and  interest,  as 
the  different  states  and  communities  of  so  broad  a 
country.  Neither  the  excellency  of  the  plan,  nor  the 
ability  of  its  administration,  could  have  succeeded 
against  the  force  of  sectional  pride  and  independence, 
and  the  truly  American  love  of  multiplying  local  asso 
ciations.  Desperate  efforts  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission  would  constantly 
have  been  made  by  its  already  half-independent 
Branches,  and  would  have  succeeded.  Coaxing  and 
compromising  and  humoring  did  wonders  to  bring 
about  unity  and  co-operation.  And  we  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  the  cash  resources  of  the  Commission  which 
alone  commanded  and  utilized  its  supplies,  were 
mainly  due  to  the  largeness,  the  constancy,  the  per 
sistency  of  the  contributions  from  California  and  the 
Pacific  Coast, — Nevada,  Oregon,  Idaho,  and  the  Sand 
wich  Islands, — so  that  to  California  more  than  to  any 


206          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

State  in  the  Union,  is  really  due  the  growth,  use 
fulness,  success,  and  national  reputation  of  the  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  California,  and  see  how  it  hap 
pened  that  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco  adopted  the 
General  sketch  United  States  Sanitary  Commission  as  the 
of  California,  almoner  of  their  bounty  to  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  in  the  war,  and  led  the  State  and  the  Coast 
throughout  the  national  struggle,  to  pour  such  large 
contributions  into  its  treasury. 

California,  removed  two  thousand  miles  by  land, 
and  five  thousand  by  water,  from  the  scene  of  the 
war,  was  settled  by  American  citizens  only  in  1848. 
Its  gold  attracted  a  population  of  singular  vigor, 
and  enterprise,  from  all  parts  of  the  country  and 
the  world.  In  less  than  one  generation,  in  seven 
teen  years,  it  had  attained  through  the  most  painful 
process  of  emigration  by  which  any  country  ever 
gained  a  population,  a  half  million  of  people,  and  had 
built  a  city  of  a  hundred  thousand  strong — a  city 
which,  rising  like  an  exhalation,  had  something  of  the 
solidity  and  finish,  the  elegance  and  splendor  of  an  old 
capital.  All  modern  improvements — gas-works,  water 
works,  street  rail-cars,  school-houses,  churches,  hotels, 
elegant  shops,  great  commercial  houses  and  banking 
establishments,  splendid  steamships  at  the  wharves, 
and  beautiful  steamboats  in  the  rivers  and  Bay — at 
tested  the  cultivated  tastes,  the  essentially  American 
ideas,  habits,  and  energies,  of  the  people  of  this  new 
State  and  young  city.  With  a  currency  exclusively  of 
gold  and  silver,  a  business  largely  made  up  of  mining, 
in  which  great  risks  and  great  losses  and  gains  were 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  207 

constantly  experienced,  where  the  golden  inducements  to 
bodily  labor  with  the  pick  and  the  shovel,  the  rocker  and 
the  "  long-torn,"  overcame  the  reluctance  of  educated 
and  refined  men  to  physical  toil,  and  made  labor  repu 
table, — where,  too,  men  were  often  rich  by  luck  to-day 
and  poor  by  accident  to-morrow, — and  all  were  used 
from  the  very  beginning  to  rough  lives  and  great  per 
sonal  hardships,  which  they  made  light  by  good  fel 
lowship  and  brilliant  hopes — it  is  impossible  to  name 
another  country  where  money  is  so  universally  sought 
and  so  little  valued ;  where  everybody  is  in  search  of 
wealth,  and  nobody  is  miserly  in  the  use  of  it. 

California, — a  country  distinguished  for  the  vastness 
of  its  features  and  the  intensity  of  its  contrasts, — in 
which  are  brought  together  snow-clad  mountains  and 
parched  plains,  terrible  freshets  and  intolerable  droughts, 
great  heats  and  severe  cold;  where  gigantic  trees, 
monstrous  fruits,  and  teeming  harvests  are  confronted 
with  nine  months  of  sere  and  dusty  yellowness — when 
greenness  wholly  disappears,  while  nothing  corre 
sponding  to  sod  is  ever  found  outside  of  artificial  gar 
dens  : — California,  rich  in  gold  and  silver,  in  quick 
silver  and  lead — poor  in  iron  and  in  coal ;  where  the 
mines  and  the  climate  possess  a  similar  uncertainty, 
and  the  seasons  are  spread,  not  over  one,  but  over 
several  years — as  in  the  Egyptian  times,  when  seven 
years  of  famine  succeeded  seven  years  of  plenty,  mak 
ing  one  long  summer  and  one  long  winter  of  the  whole 
period; — California,  where  a  sparse  population  has 
ransacked  the  immense  territory,  and  the  mark  of  the 
spade  and  the  blast  is  left  so  legibly  upon  the  face  of 
the  whole  country,  that  the  traveler  would  think  mil- 


208  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

lions  of  people  at  some  time  had  occupied  it ;  where 
towns,  villages,  and  hamlets,  forsaken  by  former  occu 
pants,  present  the  same  appearance  which  the  desert 
might  offer  if  the  Bedouins  had  left  standing  forever  the 
tents  they  occupied  from  night  to  night,  as  for  genera 
tions  they  crossed  its  wastes  each  time  by  some  new 
track; — California,  with  its  wilderness  at  the  city  gates, 
and  its  civilization  in  the  midst  of  the  mountains ; 
where  luxury  and  want,  refinement  and  coarseness, 
education  and  ignorance,  have  a  twin-like  co-existence, 
has  impressed  its  natural  features  upon  its  population. 
They  are  broad-minded  and  aspiring,  with  large 
thoughts  and  free  feelings ;  like  their  soil,  underlaid 
with  volcanic  fires,  and  subject  to  earthquakes  of  senti 
ment.  They  have  mighty  freshets  of  enthusiasm,  and 
burning  heats  of  political  excitement.  Free-handed 
and  open-hearted  like  Nature  in  their  lavish  valleys, 
they  are  ready  to  give  all  they  have  to  any  cause  that 
moves  their  quick  and  contagious  affections.  Like 
their  rains,  that  come  in  floods  or  stay  away  alto 
gether,  they  move  in  mass  if  they  move  at  all.  As 
their  fires  devastate  not  a  single  house  or  block,  but 
half  a  city  at  a  time,  so  their  charities  sweep  through 
whole  communities  and  involve  high  and  low,  rich  and 
poor,  in  their  rush.  Long  unaccustomed  to  the  society 
of  women,  the  men  of  California  developed  many  of 
the  tendernesses  of  the  other  sex  in  their  own  mutually 
dependent  hearts.  Cooking  for,  and  nursing  each  other 
in  the  mines,  they  grew  gentle  even  while  growing 
wild,  and  no  cry  of  humanity  was  ever  raised  in  vain 
among  them  in  their  rude  camps  and  diggings. 

The   feverish   nature  of  a   mining   life  makes  the 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  209 

population  of  every  such  country  greedy  of  excite 
ment  in  all  their  concerns.  Sensation  Exciting  nature 
is  the  lifeblood  of  such  a  people.  When  regi0n, 
street  fights  and  gambling  in  the  open  squares  to  the 
sound  of  bands  of  music  have  passed  by,  comes  the 
splendid  excitement  of  Vigilance  Committees,  with  their 
solemn  Lynch  law  and  their  Venetian  secrecy  and  dis 
patch  ;  then  the  era  of  fire  companies,  with  their  archi 
tectural  engine  houses  and  wide  political  and  social 
dominion ;  of  Masonic  lodges  and  their  rivalries  in  re 
galia  and  halls ;  next  the  rage  and  clash  of  political 
parties,  headed  by  Bowery  Boys  turned  scholars, 
gentlemen  and  statesmen,  but  wearing  under  their 
black  vests  the  red  shirt  and  the  fiery  heart  of  their 
antecedent  sympathies;  then  the  spicy  personalities, 
pungent  wit,  and  sublime  extravagances  of  party  and 
local  newspapers — reeking  with  vigorous,  improvised 
poetry,  rollicking,  unscrupulous  fun,  and  stinging  and 
often  poisoned  wit,  but  all  alive  with  meaning  and  stir 
and  courage ;  finally  comes  the  era  of  amusements, 
when  everybody  in  town  knows  the  popular  clown  at 
the  circus,  the  "  Bones"  at  the  Minstrels,  the  "  double 
shuffler"  at  the  Museum,  and  when  the  boldest  daring 
in  all  things  carries  the  day.  Such  a  people  are  as 
capable  of  noble  and  self- forgetting  enthusiasm,  of 
contagious  patriotism  and  uncalculating  beneficence  as 
of  ignoble  and  frivolous  excitements.  They  will  stand 
anything  but  mediocrity.  They  will  do  neither  good 
nor  evil  by  halves.  Their  love  and  their  hatred,  their 
fun  and  their  earnest,  their  pleasures  and  their  chari 
ties,  will  be  whole-souled. 

To  such  a  people,  it  can  readily  be  imagined  how 

27 


210  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

the  news  of  the  late  war  came.  Added  to  the  vastness 
HOW  the  people  of  the  excitement,  which  so  great  and 
footed  T^tfe  world-moving  a  conflict  brought  to  their  sen- 
war,  sational  temperament,  was  the  divided  rela 
tions  of  the  population  of  California  to  both  sections  of 
the  country.  San  Francisco,  the  moral  and  commercial 
capital,  had  been  early  resorted  to  by  many  able  South 
ern  men,  who  had  taken  leading  places  at  the  bar,  and 
established  whatever  social  aristocracy  existed  there. 
The  leading  clergyman  in  the  place  for  many  years  was 
a  Southerner  and  a  secessionist.  A  large  foreign  popu 
lation  naturally  sympathized  with  English  and  French 
views  of  the  war,  and  consorted  with  the  Southern  ele 
ment  in  the  city.  The  Army  officers  in  command  of 
the  fortifications  of  the  harbor  and  coast  were  South 
erners.  At  the  first  news  of  the  firing  on  Sumter,  it 
was  doubtful  whether  the  stronger  feeling  in  San 
Francisco,  was  sympathy  with  the  South,  or  with  the 
United  States  Government.  It  was  by  no  means 
certain  which  side  even  the  Army  officers  would  take, 
and  Alcatraz,  the  key  of  the  port,  was  in  immediate 
peril  of  being  seized  by  its  own  officers,  and  held  in 
the  interest  of  the  Rebellion. 

It  is  true  that  the  anti-slavery  and  pro-slavery 
struggle  in  California  —  thanks  to  Broderick — had 
years  before  this  terminated  in  favor  of  liberty,  and 
that  the  Republican  party  had  been  successfully  formed, 
and  had  elected  its  own  Governor.  The  State  was  sup 
posed  to  be  more  Republican  than  the  city.  The  press 
blew  both  ways.  The  fashion,  and  wealth  of  San 
Francisco  leaned  strongly  to  the  Southern  side. 

But  California  and  San  Francisco  were  no  exception 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  211 

to  the  common  rule  in  finding  their  attachment  to  the 
flag  and  national  unity  far  stronger  than  Their  patriotism, 
they  knew.  Danger  to  the  Republic  roused  the 
sleeping  patriotism  in  the  cities  and  towns  of  every 
free  state.  Sectional  sympathies  paled  before  the  na 
tional  sentiment  which  rose  and  flamed  in  the  hearts 
and  eyes  of  those  who  had  thought  themselves  indif 
ferent  or  wavering.  In  those  first  days,  to  waver  was 
soon  inevitably  to  incline  to  the  National  side.  None 
not  deeply  pledged  before,  went  over  to  the  enemy ; 
and  many  whose  inclinations  and  sympathies  were 
supposed  to  be  with  the  South,  came  boldly  over  to  the 
other  side. 

In  no  part  of  the  country  was  the  struggle  one  more 
of  feeling,  and  less  of  interest  than  on  the  Pacific 
Coast.  It  was  too  far  off  to  feel  very  bene-  Its  pecuiiar 
ficially  the  protection  or  care  of  the  United  characteristics, 
States  Government.  If  any  part  of  the  nation 
could  have  seceded  without  great  inconvenience, 
and  with  a  very  plausible  claim  to  geographical 
isolation,  boundaries  of  its  own  and  separate  in 
terests,  it  was  that  Pacific  slope.  But,  distant  and 
independent  as  California  was  in  its  soil  and  topogra 
phical  relations,  it  was  nearer  and  more  strictly  bound 
to  the  country,  and  the  National  cause,  by  the  quick 
and  strong  heart-strings  of  its  American  population, 
— whose  birth-places,  and  the  graves  of  their  parents, 
and  the  altars  of  their  childhood,  were  in  the  free  North 
— than  the  people  were  conscious  of  till  the  hour  of 
threatened  separation  came.  The  less  of  interest  their 
patriotism  had,  the  more  pure  and  exalting  it  was ; 
and  distance,  exile,  yearning  towards  parents  and 


212  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

brothers  who  had  flown  to  arms,  and  places  they  were 
never  again  to  see,  only  quickened  the  pulse  of  love  of 
country.  Before  this  filial  outburst  no  mere  party  or 
sectional  feeling  could  live.  Matched  with  the  friends 
of  the  Union,  as  the  opposition  seemed  at  first,  led  too 
by  social  and  professional  leaders,  by  beautiful  women, 
and  by  distinguished  physicians  and  divines,  no  sooner 
had  a  few  brave  bugle-notes,  rallying  the  National 
sentiment,  been  blown  from  the  lips  of  whole-souled 
and  inspired  patriots,  than  California  took  her  place  in 
the  National  ranks,  one  of  the  most  loyal,  uncalcu- 
lating,  devoted  and  disinterested  States  in  the  Union, 
as  lustrous  as  the  brightest  in  the  glorious  sisterhood 
of  stars  that  were  never  dimmed  by  treason. 

The  most  gifted  and  inspiring  of  the  patriots  who 
rallied  California  and  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  Flag  of 
Thomas  Starr  the  Union,  was  undoubtedly  Thomas  Starr 
*"«•  King,  Minister  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church 

in  San  Francisco.  Born  in  New  York,  but  reared  in 
Massachusetts,  he  had  earned  an  almost  national  repu 
tation  for  eloquence  and  wit,  humanity  and  nobleness 
of  soul,  in  the  lecture-rooms  and  pulpits  of  the  North 
and  West,  when  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  he  yielded  to 
the  religious  claims  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and  trans 
ferred  himself  to  California.  There,  in  four  years,  he 
had  built  up  as  a  public  speaker  from  the  pulpit  and 
the  platform,  a  prodigious  popularity.  His  tempera 
ment  sympathetic,  mercurial  and  electric ;  his  disposi 
tion  hearty,  genial  and  sweet ;  his  mind,  versatile,  quick 
and  sparkling ;  his  tact  exquisite  and  infallible  ;  with  a 
voice  clear  as  a  bell  and  loud  and  cheering  as  a  trumpet, 
his  nature  and  accomplishments  were  perfectly  adapted 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  213 

to  the  people,  the  place  and  the  time.  His  religious 
profession  disarmed  many  of  his  political  enemies,  his 
political  orthodoxy  quieted  many  of  his  religious  op 
ponents.  Generous,  charitable,  disinterested,  his  full 
heart  and  open  hand  captivated  the  California  people, 
while  his  sparkling  wit,  melodious  cadences  and  rheto 
rical  abundance,  perfectly  satisfied  their  taste  for  in 
tensity,  and  novelty,  and  a  touch  of  extravagance.  It 
has  been  said  by  high  authority  that  Mr.  King  saved 
California  to  the  Union.  California  was  too  loyal  at 
heart,  to  make  that  boast  reasonable.  But  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  Mr.  King  did  more  than  any 
man,  by  his  prompt,  outspoken,  uncalculating  loyalty, 
to  make  California  know  what  her  own  feelings  really 
were.  He  did  all  that  any  man  could  have  done  to 
lead  a  public  sentiment  that  was  unconsciously  ready 
to  follow  where  earnest  loyalty  and  patriotism  should 
guide  the  way. 

California  was  too  remote  from  the  seat  of  war 
to  send  troops  into  the  field.  She  asked  the  privi 
lege,  and  actually  proceeded  to  raise  several  California  offers 
regiments.  But  the  Government  wanted  trocPs- 
all  the  troops  that  could  be  mustered  on  the 
Pacific  coast  to  remain  there  against  possible  contin 
gencies.  True  there  were  a  few  troops,  a  company  of 
cavalry  and  some  infantry  representing  California 
actually  in  the  field,  but  not  enough  to  satisfy  her  am 
bition,  and  her  ardor  of  patriotic  feeling.  If  then 
California  wished  to  demonstrate  and  indulge  her  full 
feeling  of  devotion  to  the  cause,  it  must  be  through 
succor  generously  supplied  to  the  wants  of  the  Na 
tional  soldiers  and  sailors,  by  uniting  actively  with 


214          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

those  who  were  ministering  in  camps  and  hospitals  to 
the  comfort  and  protection  of  the  sick  and  wounded. 

The  origin,  growth,  and  triumph  of  this  movement, 
is  too  important  to  the  history  of  the  Sanitary  Corn- 
First  efforta  to  mission,  and  too  honorable  to  California 

tiaolSTrntamy  not  to  be  recorded  with  a11  possible  detail 
relief,  and  fullness  in  this  final  record  of  the 

Commission's  work.  The  contributions  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  have  been  of  so  exceptional  a  kind,  and  so 
vast  in  sum  as  to  entitle  them  to  an  exceptional 
notice.  We  depart  therefore  from  the  condensed 
method  which  has  guided  us  in  this  history,  to  lay 
before  our  readers  the  Report  which  the  Secretary  of 
the  California  Branch  made  to  the  Board  of  the  labors 
and  successes  of  the  Citizen's  Committee,  in  which  will 
be  found  a  more  exact,  interesting,  and  reliable  account 
of  the  history  of  California's  connection  with  the 
nation's  beneficence  towards  the  Army,  and  especially 
of  her  labors  in  behalf  of  the  Sanitary  Commission, 
than  could  possibly  be  got  in  any  other  way. 

Gentlemen  of  the   California  Branch  of  the   United  States  Sanitary 
Commission. 

In  accordance  with  a  vote  passed  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  Sol 
diers'  Relief  Fund  Committee,  which  organization  you  succeed,  held 
on  Thursday  evening,  August  llth,  1864,  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
presenting  to  you  the  following  report : 

The  first  movement  in  this  State,  from  which  grew  the  more  ex 
tended  action  of  all  the  people,  in  behalf  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers  of  the  Union  Army,  took  place  in  this  city,  in  the  latter 
part  of  August,  1862.  The  loyal  portion  of  the  community  was 
then  aroused  by  the  constantly  recurring  dispatches  that  told  us  of 
the  successive  battles  and  defeats  which  our  army  suffered,  under  the 
command  of  Major-General  John  Pope,  when  attempting  to  stay  the 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  215 

current  of  the  rebel  arms  under  command  of  General  R.  E.  Lee. 
At  that  time,  when  the  most  earnest  sympathies  of  the  people  were 
excited,  it  was  felt  that  something  ought  to  be  done  by  us,  by  which 
we  could,  in  some  way,  aid  the  cause  of  the  Union.  The  State  was 
too  far  distant  from  the  seat  of  war  to  be  called  upon  for  volunteers 
to  the  army ;  and,  even  if  we  might  send  reinforcements,  the  Admin 
istration  had  not  deemed  it  prudent  to  decimate  the  strength  of  the 
State,  lest  its  isolation  might  demand  all  the  forces  it  could  muster 
in  case  of  any  complications  with  foreign  powers.  One  evening  a 
subscription  paper  was  suggested  by  the  impulsive  loyalty  of  a  few 
gentlemen,  and,  in  a  few  hours,  a  considerable  number  of  names 
were  subscribed,  pledging  various  sums,  amounting,  in  the  aggregate, 
to  $6,600,  for  the  relief  of  the  suffering  of  our  army.  The  move 
ment  was  one  that  enlisted  the  sympathies  of  all ;  but  it  was  con 
ceived,  upon  reflection,  that  the  movement  should  be  systematized, 
made  broader  and  more  general,  and  in  place  of  a  few  hundred,  per 
haps  many  thousand  dollars  might  be  obtained.  Only  a  small  por 
tion  of  the  money  thus  subscribed  upon  that  occasion  was  therefore 
collected.  The  first  public  action  towards  a  wider  recognition  of  the 
people's  duty  to  the  Union  and  its  noble  defenders,  was  made  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  held  Monday  evening, 
September  8th.  At  that  meeting,  Supervisor  John  H.  Kedington 
offered  a  resolution,  which  passed  unanimously,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  this  Board  recommend  that  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  San 
Francisco  be  called  for  Wednesday,  the  10th  inst.,  at  8  o'clock,  P.  M.,  at  the  chambers 
of  the  Board,  to  take  measures  for  increasing,  to  the  greatest  extent  possible,  the  Pat 
riotic  Fund,  for  the  benefit  of  sick  and  wounded  Union  soldiers,  and  that  the  Clerk  of 
this  Board  be  instructed  to  advertise  the  same  in  the  several  daily  papers  of  the  city." 

In  accordance  with  this  resolution,  a  meeting  was  held,  of  which 
Hon.  F.  H.  Teschemacher,  Mayor,  was  made  Chairman,  and  F. 
MacCrellish  and  J.  W.  Bingham,  Secretaries.  On  account  of  the 
meagre  attendance  of  the  meeting,  it  was  moved  that  the  meeting 
adjourn  to  the  next  evening  to  insure  a  fuller  attendance.  The  mo 
tion  was  opposed  by  R.  G.  Sneath,  Esq.,  who  desired  that  an  Execu 
tive  Committee  be  appointed  without  delay;  and  that  the  whole 
State  be  communicated  with.  He  believed  that,  by  exertions,  a 
large  amount  of  money  might  be  remitted  East  every  month  during 
the  war,  and  the  feeling  prevailed  that  action  should  be  taken  at 


216  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

once.  A  slight  discussion  followed  relative  to  the  method  of  organi 
zation  .and  the  appointment  of  committees,  participated  in  by  Messrs. 
J.  H.  Redington,  Eugene  Casserly,  D.  C.  McRuer,  and  Hon.  M.  C. 
Blake,  which  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  Committee  of  Five  to 
report  a  plan  of  action  and  organization,  and  the  names  of  a  General 
Committee  of  Thirteen.  The  committee  of  five  was  composed  as 
follows:  Hon.  M.  C.  Blake,  Messrs.  Eugene  Casserly,  R.  G.  Sneath, 
D.  C.  McRuer  and  E.  H.  Washburn.  The  meeting  then  adjourned 
until  the  next  evening  (Thursday,  September  llth,)  at  8  o'clock,  at 
the  chambers  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors. 

The  citizens  met  again  the  next  evening,  according  to  adjourn 
ment,  and  Hon.  M.  C.  Blake,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Five, 
submitted  the  following  report: 

The  undersigned,  appointed,  at  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  held  on 
the  10th  instant,  in  accordance  with  a  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  "  to 
take  measures  to  increase  to  the  greatest  extent  possible  the  Patriotic  Fund  for  the  re 
lief  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  of  the  Union,"  a  committee  to  report  a  plan  of 
organization  and  action,  and  the  names  of  a  Central  Executive  Committee,  would  re 
spectfully  submit  the  following  as  their  report : 

Believing  that  the  pending  rebellion  against  the  Constitution  and  Government  of 
these  United  States,  can  and  must  be  put  down;  that  to  that  end  the  entire  energies 
and  resources  of  the  nation  should  be  devoted;  that  every  individual  should  make  the 
cause  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Government  his  cause,  involving  in  its  issue  his 
honor,  patriotism,  and  manhood,  and  should  consecrate  to  it  his  entire  self,  fortune, 
and  life — that  present  reverses  only  call  for  the  exhibition  of  the  might  of  a  true  and 
loyal  people,  which  we  and  our  enemies  know  full  well,  once  aroused,  will  be  irresis 
tible — that  right  and  truth  and  God  are  on  our  side — and  that  at  the  present  juncture, 
a  public  declaration  of  their  sentiments  by  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  is  eminently 
fitting  and  proper, — your  committee  recommend  for  your  adoption  the  following  reso 
lutions: 

1.  Resolved,  That  this  war  must  be  prosecuted  till  the  authority  of  the  Constitution 
and  Government  of  the  United  States  is  fully  re-established  over  every  foot  of  Ameri 
can  soil. 

2.  Resolved,  That  we  will  sustain  the  Government  in  the  most  vigorous  possible  pro 
secution  of  the  war,  till  we  have  conquered,  for  our  common  country,  peace,  union, 
and  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution. 

3.  Resolved,  That  present  reverses  do  not  dishearten  us,  but  we  see  in   them  only  a 
call  for  the  arming  of  the  nation. 

4.  Resolved,  That  we  recommend  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  at 

Platt's  Hall,  on  the  evening  of next,  for  a  public  declaration  of  their 

sentiments  in  regard  to  the  war  and  its  prosecution.     [Amended  so  as  to  read  :  "On  a 
day  to  be  designated  by  the  Committee  of  Thirteen."] 

We  make  these  recommendations,  because  they  express  our  own  views,  and  seem  to 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  217 

accord  with  the  views  of  the  meeting  by  which  we  were  appointed,  and  also  because 
we  believe  their  adoption  will  not  only  promote  the  cause  for  which  this  meeting  was 
specifically  called,  but  will  confirm  and  establish  patriotic  sentiments  in  our  community. 

But  our  object  is  not  talk,  but  action.  What  can  we  do  ?  California  is  removed 
from  the  seat  of  war.  We  have  peace  and  quiet  and  wonderful  prosperity  within  our 
borders.  We  have  not  seen  the  march  of  armies,  nor  have  we  ever  been  called  upon 
to  pour  out  our  treasure  or  to  hazard  our  lives  as  have  our  brethren  in  the  East.  But 
we  have  a  call  now — we  are  beginning  to  hear  it — it  needs  no  eloquence  of  words — it 
is  pressing  its  claims  upon  us  by  its  own  irresistible  logic — a  call  manifest  and  distinct 
for  material  aid — a  call  from  the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  hospitals  and  on  the  battle 
fields  of  the  Union.  We  ought  to  respond  to  this  case  and  to  every  kindred  case,  for  our 
country's  sake,  and  not  less  for  our  own — ought  to  respond  nobly,  generously,  patri 
otically,  like  men  who  have  a  country  to  save,  and  who  are  worthy  of  that  high  posi 
tion  ;  and  we  are  sure  California  will  do  it. 

We,  therefore,  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions  as  the  organic 
laws  of  the  San  Francisco  Committee  of  the  Soldiers'  Fund. 

1.  Resolved,  That  Messrs.  F.  H.   Teschemacher,  Wm.  Norris,  Henry  Seligman,  A. 
L.  Tubbs,  J.  B.  Roberts,  Peter  Donahue,  John  H.  Redington,  Horace  P.  James,  James 
Otis,  Herman  Nichols,  John  N.  Risdon,  Eugene  Sullivan  and  Wm.  M.  Lent  be  a  com 
mittee  to  be  known  .by  the  name  of  the  San  Francisco  Committee  of  the  Soldiers' 
Fund. 

2.  Resolved,  That  it  shall  be  the  primary  object  of  the  Committee  to  raise  money  for 
the  benefit  of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  and  seamen  of  the  army  and  navy  of   the 
United  States,  and  to  disburse  it  through  the  proper  channels. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  shall  continue  during  the  war — shall  have  power 
to  fill  vacancies  in  its  body,  to  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  for  conducting 
its  business  and  accomplishing  its  objects;  and,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  its  mem 
bers,  to  change  its  organic  law. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  shall  invite  not  only  the  aid   and  co-operation  of 
the  citizens  of   San    Francisco,   but   of   kindred  organizations    and    of    Union   men 
throughout  the  States  of  California  and  Oregon,  and  the  territories  of  Washington 
and  Nevada. 

5.  Resolved,  That  in  furtherance  of  its  primary  object,  the   Committee  be  requested 
to  use  its  best  endeavors  to  raise  and  forward,  with  the  least  possible  delay,  a  sum  of 
money  large  enough  to  make  up,  in  some  degree,  for  our  past  neglect,  and  to  be  an 
assurance  of  our  present  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  Union  and  its  defenders ;  and 
hereafter,  monthly,  during  the  continuance  of  the  war,  such  a  sum  that  it  may  bo 
truly  said  of  California  in  this  respect,  she  has  done  her  whole  duty. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted.  M.  C.  BLAKE, 

R.  G.  SNEATH, 
E.  H.  WASHBURN, 

D.  C.  McRUER, 

E.  CASSERLY, 

Committee. 

The  report  was  accepted  and  adopted  unanimously. 

28 


218  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  gentlemen  named  as  the  Committee  of  Thirteen  accepted 
readily  the  positions  assigned  them,  excepting  Herman  Nichols,  Esq., 
who  felt  obliged  to  decline  on  account  of  his  being  a  representative 
of  a  foreign  power.  In  his  place  Mr.  Jona.  G.  Kittle  was  immedi 
ately  chosen.  The  Committee  began  at  once  to  hold  its  meetings, 
and  took  immediate  measures  for  carrying  out  the  recommendations 
of  the  Committee  of  Five.  At  the  first  meetings  of  the  committee, 
held  on  Friday  forenoon  and  evening,  September  12th,  Hon.  F.  H. 
Teschemacher  was  chosen  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  James  Otis, 
Esq.,  Treasurer,  and  Alfred  L.  Tubbs,  Secretary.  Sub-committees 
were  appointed  to  make  arrangements  and  invite  gentlemen  to  ad 
dress  a  Mass  Meeting  which  was  appointed  for  Sunday  evening,  Sep 
tember  14th.  At  a  meeting  held  on  Saturday,  September  13th,  a 
communication  was  read  from  Louis  McLane,  Esq.,  of  the  firm  of 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  tendering  the  services  of  their  agents  through 
out  this  State  and  Oregon,  in  aid  of  the  objects  of  the  committee, 
and  offering  to  transmit  all  moneys  collected  in  the  Interior  to  this 
city,  without  charge.  The  committee  was  divided  into  sub-commit 
tees,  to  whom  different  classes,  trades  and  professions  were  assigned 
for  collections,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  canvassing  of  the 
city,  and  all  arrangements  were  made  for  commencing  the  work  im 
mediately,  after  laying  the  matter  properly  before  the  people. 

On  the  evening  of  Sunday,  September  14th,  there  was  assembled 
in  Plata's  Music  Hall,  in  response  to  the  call  of  the  committee,  one  of  the 
largest  gatherings  ever  held  in  this  city.  The  meeting  was  appointed 
to  be  held  at  eight  o'clock,  but  such  was  the  interest  already  excited  in 
the  people,  that  an  hour  before  that  time,  the  Hall  was  filled  with 
an  audience  that  has,  perhaps,  never  been  excelled  in  this  city,  in 
point  of  intelligence  and  respectability.  Every  available  space  in 
the  body  of  the  Hall  was  occupied,  and  the  gallery  was  filled  with 
ladies.  The  meeting  was  called  to  order,  punctually,  by  D.  C. 
McKuer,  Esq.,  and  organized  by  the  choice  of  Hon.  F.  H.  Tesche 
macher  as  President,  with  seventy-seven  Vice-Presidents  and  four 
Secretaries,  selected  from  the  most  prominent  citizens.  After  intro 
ductory  remarks  by  Mayor  Teschemacher,  exceedingly  earnest  and 
eloquent  addresses  were  made  by  Eugene  Casserly,  Esq.,  Frederick 
Billings,  Esq.,  Hon.  J.  McM.  Shafter,  Edward  Tompkins,  Esq.,  and 
the  late  Rev.  Thomas  Starr  King.  After  the  addresses,  upon  motion 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FEOM    CALIFORNIA.  219 

of  John  Middleton,  Esq.,  the  following  resolution  was  passed  unani 
mously  : 

Resolved,  That  the  action  of  a  meeting  of  citizens,  in  selecting  a  Committee  of  Thir 
teen,  composed  of  the  following  well-known  gentlemen,  F.  H.  Teschernacher,  Wm. 
Norris,  Alfred  L.  Tubbs,  J.  B.  Roberts,  Henry  Seligman,  Peter  Donahue,  Horace  P. 
Janes,  J.  N.  Risdon,  John  H.  Redington,  Eugene  L.  Sullivan,  Wm.  M.  Lent,  James 
Otis  and  Jona.  G.  Kittle,  to  collect  and  disburse  funds  for  the  relief  of  the  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers  and  seamen  of  our  army  and  navy,  meets  with  the  hearty  approval 
and  endorsement  of  this  meeting,  and  that  we  will  meet  these  gentlemen  upon  their 
coming,  with  open  hands  and  liberal  purses,  and  will  cheerfully  assist  them  to  raise  a 
fund  that  shall  be  creditable  to  San  Francisco. 

Mayor  Teschemacher  then  stated,  in  behalf  of  the  committee,  that 
it  being  their  intention  to  raise  as  large  a  sum  as  possible,  subscrip 
tion  books  would  be  submitted  to  all  citizens  in  every  portion  of  the 
city,  that  each  person  might  have  an  opportunity  to  make  a  single 
cash  contribution,  or  subscribe  a  certain  sum,  payable  monthly,  as 
long  as  the  war  should  last. 

The  sub-committees,  according  to  previous  arrangement,  immedi 
ately  commenced  the  canvass  of  the  city.  All  private  business  was 
ignored,  for  the  time,  by  the  gentlemen  composing  the  committee, 
and  the  chief  hours  of  the  day  given  to  this  new  and  noble  work. 
The  whole  city  seemed  to  be  thrilled  as  with  an  electric  shock,  and 
the  talk-  of  the  groups  on  the  streets,  the  merchants  on  'Change,  boys 
in  the  gutter,  of  men,  women  and  children,  was  the  movement  for 
the  relief  of  our  sick  and  wounded  soldiers ;  and  every  loyal  man's 
heart  beat  in  active  sympathy  with  the  work.  The  soldier's  needs 
took  such  an  energetic  hold  on  the  people  that  the  committee,  on 
their  rounds,  were  not  treated  as  unw-elcome  beggars,  but  greeted  as 
men  who  were  doing  a  work  which  it  was  each  man's  pride  to  see 
well  accomplished.  And  they  gave — all  citizens  gave — with  such 
enthusiasm  as  one  might  expect  from  the  recipients  of  good  gifts, 
instead  of  givers  of  the  wealth  they  had  toiled  for.  And  there  was 
such  singular  unanimity  as  men  see  in  no  other  great  public  under 
taking.  There  was  alive,  to  interrupt  their  action,  no  bias  of  politi 
cal  feeling,  no  conflict  of  religious  opinion,  no  difference  on  grounds 
of  nationality.  Men  gave  their  gold  as  the  overflow  of  patriotic 
love.  It  was  the  blood  of  their  giant  protector  — their  country,  na 
tive  or  adopted — that  was  flowing,  and  they  came  forth  readily  to 
stay  its  stream.  Men  of  every  political  party  gave — whether  Demo- 


220  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

crats,  Republicans,  or  even  Secessionists;  and  there  was  no  sect  of 
religion  that  was  not  represented  in  this  noble  army  of  givers.  The 
Christians  gave  with  loyal  self-denial ;  the  Jews,  as  earnest  sympa 
thizers  with  the  suffering ;  heretics,  as  citizens  of  a  Republic  to  be 
saved ;  and  men  of  no  religion,  with  an  ardor  worthy  the  humblest 
religious  devotee.  The  representatives  of  every  nation  living  in  our 
midst— English,  German,  French,  Irish,  Chinese,  Italian,  Hungarian, 
Russian,  Spanish — gave  with  the  fervor  of  native  citizens.  The  can 
vassing  committees  met,  after  their  first  labors,  on  Wednesday  even 
ing,  September  17th,  and  reported  a  list  of  subscriptions  amounting  to 
$66,000.  They  met  again  on  Thursday  evening,  and  reported  an  ad 
ditional  subscription  exceeding  $30,000.  On  Friday  they  reported 
more  than  $14,000,  in  addition. 

The  money  began  now  to  flow  into  the  Treasury,  but  the  question 
came  with  it,  what  was  the  best  means  of  its  disbursement  to  aid  the 
sick  and  wounded  soldiers  ?  The  United  States  Sanitary  Commission 
was  an  institution  little  known  in  this  city,  and  the  committee  were 
unwilling  to  trust  the  distribution  of  this  bounty  to  any  uncertain 
channel.  The  late  Rev.  T.  Starr  King,  at  this  time,  conferred  with 
several  members  of  the  committee,  and,  at  their  suggestion,  he  was 
invited  to  meet  the  whole  committee  at  the  meeting  of  Thursday 
evening,  September  18th.  He  readily  complied,  and  displayed  to 
the  committee  his  familiarity  with  the  workings  of  that  noble  or 
ganization.  He  gave  an  account  of  its  origin,  its  objects,  its  progress, 
its  administration,  its  endorsement  by  the  United  States  Government, 
its  relation  to  the  same,  and  its  wonderful  prosperity  and  success. 
The  familiarity  which  he  showed,  and  the  earnest  confidence  which 
he  expressed  in  that  institution  as  a  most  worthy  almoner,  decided 
the  committee  as  to  the  channel  of  distribution. 

The  money,  in  answer  to  the  subscriptions,  poured  so  rapidly  into 
the  Treasury,  that  by  steamer-day,  (Saturday,)  September  19th,  the 
committee  bought  exchange  for  $100,000,  and  remitted  the  same  at 
once,  by  telegraph,  to  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  D.D.,  President,  and 
George  T.  Strong,  Treasurer,  United  States  Sanitary  Commission, 
New  York. 

Notwithstanding  the  activity  of  the  committee  selected  by  the  peo 
ple,  many  were  eager  lest  they  should  be  behindhand  in  this  loyal 
work,  and  handed  their  contributions — whatever  they  could  give — 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  221 

to  the  Treasurer,  before  the  gentlemen  of  the  committee  could  reach 
them.  It  seemed  like  a  great  festival  of  charity,  at  which  all  men 
united,  even  though  they  were  "  poor  indeed."  The  employees  of  all 
the  great  corporations  and  manufacturing  establishments,  both 
private  and  those  belonging  to  the  Government,  combined  together 
and  sent  their  offerings  for  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers.  The 
public  and  private  schools  of  the  city  took  on  themselves  the  sacri 
fice  of  their  own  luxuries,  and  the  names  of  almost  all  the  children 
in  the  city  appeared  in  the  daily  papers  as  givers  of  their  mites  for 
the  relief  of  the  soldiers. 

The  committee  still  continued  their  work,  and  reported  at  their 
next  meeting,  on  Tuesday,  September  23d,  more  than  sixteen  thou 
sand  dollars.  The  money  subscribed  was  paid  in  so  rapidly  that  by 
the  next  steamer,  September  1st,  the  committee  were  enabled  to 
make  a  second  remittance  of  drafts  for  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  acquainted  the  head  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission 
in  New  York  by  telegraph. 

In  view  of  the  work  of  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission,  a  dis 
tinct  and  independent  organization,  whose  headquarters  were  at  St. 
Louis,  the  committee  directed  that  fifty  thousand  dollars  ($50,000)  of 
the  last  remittance  be  given  to  that  body.  Scarcely  a  fortnight  had 
passed  since  the  great  mass  meeting  to  arouse  the  people  had  been 
held,  and  already,  through  their  efforts,  the  treasuries  for  the  relief 
of  the  soldiers  had  been  enriched  by  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  question  of  inciting  the  whole  State  to  the  same  noble  work 
that  the  city  was  doing,  claimed  the  early  attention  of  the  commit 
tee.  A  circular  was  immediately  prepared,  dated  September  29th, 
1862,  addressed  "  To  the  loyal  people  of  California,"  and  sent  to  the 
postmasters  and  prominent  citizens  in  every  city  and  town  of  the 
State.  It  was  liberally  distributed  also  among  the  leading  citizens 
of  Nevada  and  Washington  Territories,  and  the  State  of  Oregon, 
and  published  in  all  the  loyal  newspapers  of  the  coast.  The  interior 
had  already  been  excited  to  admiration  at  the  singular'  and  sponta 
neous  liberality  of  this  city,  and  soon  caught  this  wonderful  fever  of 
charitable  giving.  Money,  in  all  sums,  soon  came  pouring  into  the 
Treasury  from  every  portion  of  the  State.  Pacheco,  in  Contra  Costa 
county,  sent  one  hundred  dollars  on  the  20th  of  September ;  San 
Andreas,  Calaveras  county,  four  hundred  and  four  dollars  on  the 


222  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

22d ;  Georgetown,  Eldorado  county,  two  hundred  dollars,  and  North 
San  Juan,  Nevada  county,  two  hundred  and  forty-two  dollars,  on  the 
23d,  before  the  circular  was  issued.  In  the  early  part  of  the  follow 
ing  month,  the  other  counties  began  liberally  to  respond — Solano, 
and  then  Shasta,  Los  Angeles  and  Tuolumne,  Placer,  Santa  Cruz 
and  Tehama,  and  the  other  counties  of  the  State,  following  in  quick 
succession  and  making  liberal  contributions  to  increase  the  Soldiers' 
Belief  Fund. 

To  make  the  Interior  better  acquainted  with  the  work  of  the  Sani 
tary  Commission,  and  to  offer  specifically  the  services  of  this  com 
mittee  in  forwarding  the  funds  there  collected,  another  circular  was 
issued,  dated  October  20th,  1862,  and  widely  distributed  through  the 
State.  . 

Besides  the  subscriptions  which  were  paid  immediately,  there  were 
a  number  of  persons  in  this  city  who  subscribed  and  paid  monthly 
during  the  ensuing  year.  Every  month  following  the  general  move 
ment,  various  sums  were  raised  in  the  interior  counties  of  the  State, 
according  to  their  several  ability,  and  forwarded  to  the  Treasurer  in 
this  city,  as  are  particularly  specified  in  the  Treasurer's  Report,  pre 
ceding,  in  this  pamphlet.  The  contributions  from  the  city  did  not 
cease  with  the  canvassing  of  the  committee,  but  during  the  year 
numerous  associations  and  individuals  manifested  their  interest  in 
the  cause  by  various  donations.  After  the  first  active  labors,  the 
current  of  remittances  to  the  Treasury  was  constant. 

At  the  time  of  the  elections,  in  the  early  part  of  September,  1863, 
the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  were  remembered,  and  at  the  polls 
throughout  the  State,  boxes  were  placed  to  receive  contributions. 
The  happy  result  was,  that  the  State  at  large  gave  the  sum  of  eight 
thousand  four  hundred  and  ten  dollars  and  eighty-six  cents  in  coin,  and 
eight  hundred  and  eighty-one  dollars  in  Legal  Tender  notes,  and  San 
Francisco  five  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  dollars  and 
thirty  cents  in  coin,  and  forty-three  dollars  in  Legal  Tender  notes — 
making  the  handsome  total  of  thirteen  thousand  six  hundred  and 
forty  dollars  and  eleven  cents  in  coin,  and  nine  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  dollars  in  Legal  Tender  notes,  as  a  single  day's  contribution 
from  the  loyal  masses  of  the  State.  During  the  period  of  thirteen 
months  following  the  Mass  Meeting,  September  14th,  1862,  the  com 
mittee  made  fourteen  remittances  to  the  Treasury  of  the  United 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  223 

States  Sanitary  Commission,  New  York — thirteen  being  in  drafts 
payable  in  currency,  amounting  to  four  hundred  and  fourteen  thou 
sand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars  and  fifty-eight  cents  ($414,- 
995  58  ;)  and  one  draft  payable  in  gold,  amounting  to  fifteen  thou 
sand  dollars  ($15,000,)  making  a  total  of  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars  and  fifty-eight 
cents  ($429,995  58.) 

At  the  end  of  that  time  the  war  was  being  still  prosecuted  with 
vigor,  our  army  was  suffering  from  wounds  and  disease,  and  the 
charities  of  our  people  were  needed  to  continue  the  same  noble  work 
they  had  begun.  The  committee  met  again,  after  a  long  period  of 
inactivity,  to  consult  upon  the  best  method  of  future  conduct.  The 
vacancies  in  the  committee,  occasioned  by  death  and  by  absence  from 
the  State,  were  immediately  filled.  His  Honor,  Mayor  H.  P.  Coon, 
was  chosen  Chairman  in  place  of  Hon.  F.  H.  Teschemacher,  former 
Chairman,  then  absent  from  the  State.  Communication  was  entered 
into  with  the  President  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission, 
asking  him  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  Treasury.  The  following 
reply  was  received  by  telegraph : 

NEW  YORK,  Oct.  23,  1863. 

The  Sanitary  funds  are  low.  Our  expenses  are  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  month.  We 
can  live  three  months,  and  that  only,  without  large  support  from  the  Pacific.  Twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  a  month,  paid  regularly  while  the  war  lasts,  from  California, 
would  make  our  continuance  on  our  present  magnificent  scale  of  beneficence  a  certainty, 
We  would  make  up  the  other  twenty-five  thousand  a  month  here.  We  have  already 
distributed  Sanitary  stores  of  the  value  of  seven  millions  of  dollars  to  all  parts  of  the 
army,  at  a  cost  of  three  per  cent.  To  abandon  our  work,  or  to  allow  it  to  dwindle, 
would  be  a  horrible  calamity  to  the  army  and  the  cause.  We  never  stood  so  well  with  the 
nation  ;  but  California  has  been  our  main  support  in  money,  and  if  she  fails  us  we  are 
lost.  The  Board  imperatively  urges  me  to  go  out  to  California  and  tell  her  all  we  owe 
her  for  past  favors,  and  all  we  need  and  hope.  But  how  can  I  turn  open  beggar  to 
such  a  benefactor  ?  When  California  needs  my  presence  for  such  an  object  she  will  ask 
for  it.  Meanwhile  I  know  that  you  represent  the  soldiers'  wants  and  our  Commission 
better  than  I  could  do  in  person.  So  organize,  if  possible,  a  monthly  subscription, 
and  let  us  feel  that  California  trusts  and  will  sustain  us  in  her  past  spirit  to  the 
end.  Telegraph  fully  in  reply.  God  bless  California  ! 

HENRY  W.  BELLOWS. 

The  committee,  in  answer  to  this  appeal,  determined  to  increase  its 
numbers,  and  begin  operations  once  more,  and  incite  the  people  to 
repeat  the  earnest  benevolence  of  the  last  year.  A  sub-committee 


224          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

issued  a  small  circular,  October  30th,  1863,  to  a  hundred  or  more 
citizens,  inviting  them  to  attend  "a  meeting  to  be  held  in  the  Twelfth 
District  Court  room,  Saturday  evening,  October  31st,  at  8  o'clock,  to 
hear  a  communication  from  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  and  to  consult  upon 
business  connected  with  the  Sanitary  Commission." 

In  response  to  this  call,  a  considerable  number  of  citizens  met 
together.  His  Honor,  Mayor  Coon,  was  made  Chairman,  and  Wm. 
Sherman,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  meeting.  The  late  Rev.  Thos.  Starr 
King  gave  a  brief  history  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commis 
sion,  its  operations,  and  what  it  had  accomplished,  and  read  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Bellows,  setting  forth  their  acknowledgments  to  the  com 
mittee  and  the  people  of  California  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  and 
stating  the  Commission's  future  needs.  Various  gentlemen  discussed 
the  matter  of  responding  in  the  best  manner  to  the  wants  of  the 
Commission,  and  expressed  their  confidence  in  the  patriotism  and 
liberality  of  the  people  of  California.  The  result  of  the  meeting 
was  the  addition  of  twenty-two  gentlemen  to  the  old  committee,  and 
a  recommendation  that  "  the  committee  call  a  mass  Meeting,  issue  a 
circular  address  to  the  people  of  California,  and  adopt  such  other 
means  to  accomplish  the  object  of  the  committee  as  they  may  deem 
expedient."  The  committee  thereafter,  including  a  few  gentlemen 
added  to  it  at  the  earliest  subsequent  meetings  of  the  committee,  was 
composed  as  follows  :  H.  P.  Coon,  James  Otis,  A.  L.  Tubbs,  Jos.  B. 
Thomas,  R.  G.  Sneath,  E.  L.  Sullivan,  W.  M.  Lent,  Albert  Miller, 
John  O.  Earl,  W.  C.  Ralston,  A.  Seligman,  H.  L.  Dodge,  W.  M. 
Rockwell,  J.  P.  Buckley,  Jerome  Rice,  Alex.  G.  Abell,  Wm.  Sher 
man,  F.  A.  Holman,  Jonas  G.  Clark,  Thos.  Starr  King,  John  H. 
Redington,  Jas.  B.  Roberts,  Jona.  G.  Kittle,  Peter  Donahue,  Geo. 
W.  Gibbs,  John  Sime,  E.  Cohn,  F.  A.  Woodworth,  J.  N.  Risdon,  R. 
B.  Swain,  Seth  H.  Wetherbee,  Wm.  R.  Wadsworth,  R.  B.  Wood 
ward,  L.  B.  Benchley,  Eugene  Casserly,  J.  R.  Hardenberg,  Horace 
Davis,  O.  B.  Jennings,  W.  H.  Hook,  N.  P.  Periue,  W.  H.  Coding- 
ton. 

According  to  the  suggestions  of  the  meeting  of  citizens,  the  com 
mittee  took  measures  for  holding  a  Mass  Meeting,  and  invited  speakers 
for  the  occasion.  As  a  preliminary  measure,  for  the  thorough  can 
vassing  of  the  city,  immediately  after  the  meeting,  subscription  books 
were  prepared  and  sub-committees  appointed,  and  special  portions  of 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  225 

the  business  community  assigned  to  them.  The  Mass  Meeting  was 
held  at  Platt's  Music  Hall,  on  Tuesday  evening,  November  10th. 
The  people  answered  the  call  enthusiastically,  and  at  the  hour  ap 
pointed  for  the  commencement  of  the  exercises,  the  Hall  was  densely 
crowded.  The  Band  of  the  Ninth  infantry,  U.  S.  A.,  was  present, 
and  gave  interest  to  the  occasion  by  its  contributions  of  stirring 
patriotic  airs.  At  seven  and  a-half  o'clock,  the  chairman  of  the 
committee,  Hon.  H.  P.  Coon,  called  the  meeting  to  order,  and,  with 
a  few  eloquent  remarks,  introduced  Hon.  F.  F.  Low,  Governor  of 
the  State,  as  President  of  the  meeting.  The  President  was  sup 
ported  by  an  able  and  intelligent  corps  of  Vice  Presidents  and  Secre 
taries.  An  introductory  speech  was  made  by  Gov.  Low ;  and  the 
Treasurer,  Jas.  Otis,  Esq.,  followed  with  the  report  of  the  receipts, 
disbursements,  and  remittances  to  New  York,  since  the  formation  of 
the  Committee.  Interesting  and  patriotic  addresses  succeeded  from 
Kev.  D.  B.  Cheney,  Win.  T.  Coleman,  Esq.,  Commander  Selim  E. 
Woodworth,  Edward  Tompkins,  Esq.,  and  the  late  Rev.  T.  Starr  King. 
The  same  earnest  sympathy  was  manifested  by  the  hearers  in  the 
cause  of  the  suffering  soldier,  and  the  same  ardent  enthusiasm  seemed 
to  prevail  as  when  the  object  was  first  .approached  in  the  year  pre 
vious.  It  was  evident  that  the  loyalty  and  generosity  of  the  people 
had  not  become  exhausted,  nor  the  ability  to  do  noble  deeds  for  our 
country. 

The  sub-committees  immediately  waited  upon  the  people  of  the  city, 
who  received  them  with  no  less  cordiality  than  the  year  before. 
Looking  to  a  long-continued  flow  into  the  Treasury,  and  to  a  fulfill 
ment  of  the  request  of  the  President  of  the  Commission,  contained 
in  his  dispatch,  the  committee  now  asked  especially  for  monthly  sub 
scriptions.  These  they  received  from  many,  while  the  impulsive 
generosity  of  others  induced  them  to  give  at  once  the  donation  they 
would  make  for  the  following  year.  At  the  first  meeting  after  the 
canvassing  began,  the  committee  were  able  to  report  the  sum  of 
thirty  thousand  dollars  subscribed,  payable  immediately,  and  four 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  payable  monthly ;  at  the  next  meeting, 
seventeen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars,  in  cash 
subscriptions,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars  payable 
monthly.  It  was  soon  apparent  that  San  Francisco  would  do  her 
part  towards  fulfilling  the  request  from  the  East. 

29 


226  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  effectiveness  of  appeals  to  the  people  of  the  interior  of  the 
State,  had  been  abundantly  proved  by  the  experience  of  the  past 
year.  The  committee,  this  year,  had  adopted  the  same  course,  and 
issued,  at  the  time  the  work  was  begun  in  this  city,  for  interior  dis 
tribution,  a  circular  "Appeal  for  Relief  of  Wounded  Soldiers,"  dated 
November  9th,  1863;  and  the  country  began  to  answer  with  their 
former  alacrity  and  generosity. 

The  success  of  the  committee  in  this  city  was  such  that  the  fol 
lowing  dispatch  was  soon  sent  to  the  President  of  the  United  States 
Sanitary  Commission : 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  Dec.  12, 1863. 
REV.  HENRY  W.  BELLOWS, 

President  of  the  U.  S.  Sanitary  Commission : 

San  Francisco  will  furnish  the  Sanitary  Commission  Two  Hundred  Thousand  Dol 
lars  during  the  year  1864,  to  be  paid  in  New  York  in  monthly  installments.  We  are 
not  yet  informed  what  amount  may  be  expected  from  the  balance  of  the  State,  but 
believe  that  One  Hundred  Thousand  Dollars  more  will  be  assured  the  Commission  as 
soon  as  organizations  can  be  effected  for  that  purpose.  This  will  give  Twenty-five 
Thousand  Dollars  per  month ;  and  by  steamer  to-day  we  send  you  Fifty  Thousand 
Dollars  for  January  and  February. 

With  assurance  of  our  continued  fidelity  to  the  cause,  and  sympathy  for  those  who 
Buffer  in  its  defence, 

In  behalf  of  the  Committee, 

H.   P.  COON,  Chairman. 
JAMES  OTIS,  Treasurer. 

To  which,  a  few  days  after,  the  following  telegraphic  reply  was 
received : 

NEW  YORK,  December  17th,  1863. 
HON.  H.  P.  COON,  AND  JAMES  OTIS,  ESQ.  : 

BROTHERS  : — I  wonder  that  your  life-giving  telegram,  charged  with  Two  Hundred 
Thousand  Dollars  ($200,000),  did  not  find  me  in  my  travels,  and  shock  me  into  imme 
diate  consciousness  of  the  splendid  news.  But  just  returned  to  New  York,  I  see  my 
table  illumined  with  this  resplendent  message,  and  in  my  haste  to  acknowledge  such  a 
glorious  and  patriotic  continuance  in  well-doing,  I  can  only  stutter — Noble,  tender, 
faithful  San  Francisco,  City  of  the  heart,  commercial  and  moral  capital  of  the  most 
humane  and  generous  State  in  the  world ! 

If  God  gives  to  you,  so  you  give  to  others.  Your  boundaries  will  not  hold  the 
riches  and  the  blessings  in  store  for  you ;  they  must  needs  overflow  into  the  hands  of  the 
needy  and  suffering,  and  make  your  name  the  balm  and  cordial  of  want  and  sorrow. 
"I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me."  This  is  the  nation's  thought,  as  she  sees  herself 
^wounded  in  every  hero  that  languishes  in  her  hospitals,  and  then  gazes  at  the  Pacific, 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  227 

at  California,  with  San  Francisco  at  their  head— the  good  Samaritan  for  the  first  time 
appearing  in  the  proportions  of  a  great  city,  of  a  whole  State,  of  a  vast  area. 

HENRY  W.  BELLOWS. 

The  Treasurer's  Report  amply  testifies  to  the  success  which  the 
appeals  of  the  Committee  met  with  throughout  the  extent  of  our  loyal 
State.  The  towns  of  the  State  came  hastily  into  the  line,  and  were 
strenuous  each  to  outdo  the  other  in  their  gifts.  Most  paid  their  con 
tributions  at  once;  a  few  made  occasional  contributions  during  the 
year.  The  town  of  Columbia,  Tuolumne  county,  and  the  Gold  Run 
Relief  Society,  of  Placer  county,  are  prominent,  as  making  hand 
some  contributions,  for  several  successive  months,  into  the  Treasury. 

No  direct  appeal  having  been  made  to  the  Interior  for  specific 
monthly  contributions,  it  was  deemed  expedient  that  the  matter  be 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  people,  that  it  might  be  known  what 
definite  amount  might  be  expected  monthly  from  the  whole  State. 
A  circular  was  accordingly  prepared,  but  was  delayed  in  being  sent 
away.  In  the  early  spring  of  1864,  one  of  the  committee — late  Rev. 
T.  Starr  King — had  determined,  and  had  so  announced  to  the  com 
mittee,  to  go  personally  into  the  most  prominent  counties  of  the 
State,  appeal  directly  to  the  people,  and  ask  of  them  fixed  contribu 
tions  to  the  Sanitary  Fund  every  month.  That  purpose  he  was 
unable  to  fulfill ;  for,  at  the  time  he  had  proposed  to  begin  the  work, 
he  was  taken  sick,  and  after  a  few  days'  illness,  died  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1864.  In  his  death  not  the  Sanitary  Commission  alone,  but 
every  good  and  noble  cause,  lost  an  able  advocate ;  not  the  City  and 
State  alone,  but  the  Nation  lost  an  ornament  and  support — a  strong 
arm  and  noble  heart.  On  the  8th  of  March  the  committee  met  to 
take  notice  of  the  loss.  After  a  few  remarks  upon  the  character  of 
Mr.  King,  Mr.  F.  A.  Woodworth  offered  the  following  resolutions, 
which  were  passed  unanimously. 

As  co-laborers  with  the  late  Rev.  Thomas  Starr  King,  in  the  cause  of  the  suffering 
among  the  defenders,  in  the  field  and  on  the  wave,  of  our  Nation's  honor  and  integ 
rity,  it  is  fitting  that  the  Soldiers'  Relief  Fund  Committee  give  public  testimony  of 
their  appreciation  of  his  services.  It  is  therefore 

RESOLVED,  That  in  his  death  they  deeply  feel  the  loss  of  a  toiler,  most  earnest  and 
energetic,  in  the  field  of  their  labors — a  soul  ever  ardent  with  love  of  a  country  in 
anguish,  full  of  eloquent  sympathy  for  the  dying  on  the  battle-fields,  the  sick  and 
wounded  in  the  hospitals  of  the  nation :  unwearied  in  his  work  of  filling  other  men 
with  a  just  estimate  of  their  duty  in  the  cause  of  mercy,  of  charity  and  of  country; 


228  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

That  he  has  gone  from  among  them  when  it  would  seem  he  could  least  be  spared, 
just  ready,  as  he  believed  himself  to  be,  once  more  to  seek  the  interior  counties  of  the 
State,  and  plead  the  cause  of  the  soldier; 

That  in  his  going,  4he  City  has  lost  a  most  worthy  citizen  ;  the  State  an  able  up 
holder  of  law  and  government;  the  Nation  a  Patriot,  whose  uncompromising  loyalty 
won  the  honor  and  admiration  of  all  good  men,  the  fear  of  traitors  and  their  abettors; 
Humanity  and  Charity  and  Mercy  a  supplicant,  whose  asking  was  not  greater  than 
his  own  bestowment;  Learning  and  Culture  and  Literature,  a  scholarly  disciple,  whose 
constancy  taught  others  much  of  the  alphabet  of  Truth  ;  Religion,  a  bright  exemplar, 
whose  fervor  and  piety  found  joyful  testimony  in  a  noble  life,  a  heroic  and  triumphant 
death;  all  good  men  and  true,  and  all  causes  of  progress  and  truth,  a  laborer,  who  has 
early  gone  to  receive  his  well-won  reward; 

That,  as  friends  of  the  man,  and  lovers  of  his  virtues,  they  trust  in  Him  who  called 
him  away,  believing  that  only  a  bright  crown  awaits  him  who  could  so  humbly  meet 
the  decree  of  God,  could  go  so  manfully  into  "the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death," 
proclaiming,  as  he  stepped  from  the  Life  Present  to  the  Life  Eternal,  that  he  was 
"  happy,  resigned,  trustful." 

The  active  labors  of  the  committee  in  this  city  were  finished,  and 
there  was  need  for  meetings  only  occasionally,  until  the  arrival  of 
Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  D.D.,  President  of  the  United  States  Sani 
tary  Commission,  in  the  last  of  April,  1864.  Although  the  commit 
tee  was  merely  a  local  organization,  and  disconnected  in  every  way 
with  that  of  which  he  was  the  head,  the  work  for  which  it  was 
formed  and  its  constant  communications  and  remittances,  had  placed 
it  in  the  position  of  nearest  sympathy  with  him.  He  met  the  com 
mittee  soon  after  his  arrival,  was  in  constant  intercourse  with  them, 
and  placed  himself,  so  far  as  communication  with  the  people  of  the 
city,  under  their  immediate  auspices.  But  the  people  needed  no  me 
dium  between  them  and  the  eloquent  head  of  the  great  charitable 
organization  with  which  they  had  long  been  familiar.  They  had 
become  immediate  friends  through  the  eloquent  and  thrilling  mes 
sages  which  he  had  often  sent  during  the  past  two  years,  by  tele 
grams  and  letters,  in  answer  to  the  remittances  which  the  committee 
had  been  constantly  making.  He  wished  early  to  meet  the  people, 
and  accordingly,  under  the  direction  of  the  Committee,  he  addressed 
the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  on  Friday  evening,  May  13th,  at 
Plata's  Music  Hall. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  committee,  on  Saturday  evening,  June  4th, 
an  offer  was  received,  through  Mr.  Sneath,  from  Messrs.  Steele  Bros., 
to  make  a  mammoth  cheese,  of  4,000  pounds  weight,  to  be  exhibited 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  229 

and  finally  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  Sanitary  Fund.  They  desired 
the  expenses  attending  the  preparation  of  the  same  for  exhibition,  to 
be  met  by  this  committee,  and  upon  its  completion  it  would  be 
handed  over  to  them.  The  proposition  was  immediately  acquiesced 
in,  and  the  expenses  assumed  by  the  committee.  The  matter  of  the 
cheese  was  referred  to  a  committee,  by  whom  arrangements  were 
subsequently  made,  upon  its  reception,  for  its  exhibition  in  the 
pavilion  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  erected  for  the  Industrial  Fair, 
and  open  to  visitors  in  the  first  of  September. 

Since  the  Treasurer  made  his  Report  of  the  previous  year,  at  the 
Mass  Meeting  of  November  10th,  1863,  up  to  August  llth,  1864, 
remittances  had  been  made  to  the  Sanitary  Commission,  in  answer  to 
the  appeal  of  Dr.  Bellows  in  October,  1863,  for  $25,000  per  month; 
seven  drafts,  amounting  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand 
three  hundred  and  seventy-one  47-100  dollars  ($136,371  47,)  payable 
in  currency ;  and  two  drafts,  amounting  to  twenty-one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  thirty-six  and  71-100  dollars  ($21,  236  71,)  payable  in 
gold.  In  the  month  of  March,  the  Treasurer  remitted  to  the  Western 
Sanitary  Commission,  at  St.  Louis,  a  draft  for  seven  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  ($7,  500,)  payable  in  gold — making  the  total  of  re 
mittances  since  the  Treasurer's  Report,  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand  one  hundred  and  eight  18-100  dollars  ($165,108  18.)  The 
amount  of  remittances  since  the  first  movement,  September  12th, 
1862,  was  five  hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand  one  hundred  and 
three  76-100  dollars  ($595,  103  76.) 

In  addition  to  these  remittances,  in  the  month  of  June,  1863,  in 
answer  to  representations  concerning  the  condition  of  the  United 
States  soldiers  upon  this  coast,  the  Treasurer  paid  to  R.  C.  Drum, 
Assistant  Adjutant-General,  five  hundred  dollars  ($500)  for  disburse 
ments  for  their  relief. 

The  total  receipts  from  forty-two  counties  of  this  State,  and  a  few 
donations  from  Nevada  territory,  Oregon,  and  Washington  Terri 
tory,  from  September  14th,  1862,  to  August  13th,  1864,  were  four 
hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
23-100  dollars  ($484,189  23,)  in  coin,  and  seventy -two  thousand  and 
ninety-two  62-100  dollars  ($72,092  62,)  in  currency — making  a  total 
of  five  hundred  and  fifty-six  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty-one 
85-100  dollars  ($556,  281  85.) 


230  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  apparent  excess  of  remittances  over  receipts  is  explained  by 
the  fact,  that  a  large  portion  of  the  coin  collected  was  converted  into 
currency,  by  the  purchase  of  drafts,  payable  in  New  York  in  cur 
rent  funds. 

The  whole  expenses  of  the  committee,  during  the  two  years  of  their 
existence,  including  Mass  Meetings,  office  rent,  circulars,  printing,  and 
expenses  of  all  kinds,  amounted  to  $4,789  93,  no  one  of  the  members 
of  the  committee  having  received  any  compensation  for  their  services. 
The  exchange  paid  for  coin  drafts,  was  $2,018  33.  The  balance  in 
the  Treasury,  August  13th,  at  the  time  the  name  and  functions  of  the 
organization  were  changed,  was  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  28-100  dollars  ($12,559  28,)  in  coin,  and  three  hundred 
and  fifty-five  dollars  ($355)  in  currency;  total,  twelve  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  fourteen  28-100  dollars  ($12,  914  28.) 

The  probability  of  the  still  further  continuance  of  the  war,  and 
with  it  the  need  of  money  for  the  relief  of  our  suffering  soldiers, 
instigated,  during  Dr.  Bellows'  sojourn,  the  re-organization  of  the 
committee.  That  the  charities  of  the  whole  State  might  be  more 
thoroughly  collected,  it  was  deemed  best  that  a  State  organization 
be  founded,  through  which  local  organizations  in  every  populous 
community  of  the  State  might  be  formed,  and  to  which  they  should 
all  be  tributary.  The  committee,  therefore,  at  the  meeting  held 
August  14th,  1864,  accepted  the  suggestions  of  Dr.  Bellows,  ceased 
to  be  a  local  organization  for  the  direct  collection  of  funds  in  this 
city  alone,  and  under  his  approval  and  authority,  assumed  the  char 
acter  and  name  of  the  California  Branch  of  the  United  States  Sani 
tary  Commission,  of  which  persons  residing  in  different  parts  of  the 
State,  should  be  invited  to  become  members.  They  thereupon 
elected  Hon.  F.  F.  Low,  Governor  of  the  State,  President,  and  chose 
an  Executive  Committee,  upon  whom  the  chief  conduct  of  affairs 
should  devolve,  composed  of  Hon.  D.  C.  McRuer,  Chairman ;  R.  G. 
Sneath,  Abraham  Seligman,  George  W.  Gibbs,  F.  A.  Woodworth, 
Albert  Miller,  and  A.  L.  Tubbs.  Here  ended  the  work  of  the  origi 
nal  organization  as  such.  Its  functions,  and  others  of  wider  scope, 
were  assumed  and  are  now  continued  by  the  larger  organization. 

Respectfully  submitted, 
A.  L.  TUBBS,  GEO.  B.  MERRILL, 

Secretary.  Ass't  Secretary. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  Dec.  7th,  1864. 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  231 

This  admirable  and  spirited  Report  brings  the  his 
tory  of  the  movement  in  behalf  of  Army  relief  in 
California  down  to  December  7th,  1864.  As  California 

Branch  of  the 

its  object,  however,  was  mainly  to  give  the  Commission, 
history  of  the  Citizens'  Committee,  it  passes  ^uf 
lightly  over  the  labors  of  the  California  Branch,  estab 
lished  by  the  President  of  the  Commission,  Dr.  BEL 
LOWS,  after  his  arrival  in  San  Francisco,  April  30th, 
1864.  The  labors  of  the  energetic  and  admirable 
Committee  of  Citizens  had  somewhat  slackened  after 
Mr.  King's  decease.  His  death  had  prevented  his 
cherished  purpose  of  canvassing  the  State  in  person. 
This  duty  fell  to  Dr.  Bellows.  Moving  about  the  State 
and  addressing  the  citizens  in  many  of  the  principal 
towns,  he  became  convinced  that  the  interest  of  the 
people  was  not  abated,  nor  their  liberality  exhausted. 
He  had  studied  the  fruits  of  organized  effort  too  well  not 
to  believe  that,  great  as  the  pecuniary  yield  of  Califor 
nia  had  been,  it  would  have  proved  twice  as  great  if  a 
thorough  system  of  canvassing  had  been  adopted  from 
the  start,  and  all  the  towns  of  the  State  brought  under 
the  admirable  method  which  was  pursued  in  San 
Francisco,  where  committees  went  regularly  from  store 
to  store,  through  whole  blocks  and  streets,  giving  no 
one  in  all  that  generous  city  an  apology  for  evading 
his  fair  share  of  the  burden  of  humanity.  The  mere 
presence  of  a  known  and  authorized  officer  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission  in  California  stimulated  patriotic 
beneficence  to  such  a  degree,  that  over  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  spontaneously  poured  into  Dr. 
Bellows'  hands  for  the  soldiers,  during  his  short  stay 
of  four  and  a  half  months  on  the  Coast.  Not  knowing 


232          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

how  long  the  war  might  continue,  and  feeling  that 
every  day,  with  the  depleted  resources  of  the  North 
and  West,  it  was  becoming  more  and  more  difficult  to 
raise  money  for  the  use  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  on 
the  llth  August,  1864,  the  President  of  the  Commis 
sion  organized  the  California  Branch  with  the  officers 
enumerated  in  the  closing  paragraph  of  the  above 
Report. 

The  Rev.  0.  C.  Wheeler,  largely  known  in  the  State, 
was  made  Secretary,  and  proceeded  under  the  direc- 
organization  of  tion  of  the  Board  to  send  agents  into  most  of 
Aid  Societies,  the  counties,  to  establish  Aid  Societies,  whose 
members  should  pledge  themselves  to  a  monthly  stipend 
of  any  amount  from  a  half-dollar  (the  smallest  form  that 
charity  ever  takes  in  California)  to  five,  ten,  and  even 
a  hundred  dollars.  Over  two  hundred  of  these  Aid 
Societies  were  formed,  chiefly  through  the  faithful  and 
indefatigable  exertions  of  Rev.  Mr.  Chapin  and  Mr.  R. 
N".  Bellows,  to  whom,  it  is  conceded,  the  triumph  of 
this  plan  was  mainly  due.  The  organization  was  a 
complete  success.  The  Aid  Societies  were  many  of 
them  small  and  feeble,  and  all  required  occasional  visi 
tation  from  the  agents  who  had  formed  them,  but  as  a 
whole,  they  contributed  with  surprising  freedom,  regu 
larity,  and  persistency  to  the  Treasury  at  San  Fran 
cisco,  which  was  thus  enabled  to  continue  its  monthly  re 
mittances  to  the  Central  Treasury  at  New  York  with 
amazing  punctuality  and  fullness  to  the  very  end  of 
the  war.  The  proposition  to  disband  the  Califor 
nia  Branch  and  cease  collections  and  remittances  did 
not  proceed  from  California,  who  never  showed  impa 
tience  to  throw  off  the  burden.  At  the  earliest  mo- 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  233 

ment,  when  the  Commission  could  dispense  with  her 
aid,  her  President  notified  the  California  Branch  (July, 
1865)  and  all  the  Pacific  Branches,  that  their  labors 
might  cease. 

The  rich  experience  in  California,  Oregon,  Nevada, 
the  only  States  which  were  thoroughly  canvassed  and 
organized  systematically  for  money  contri-  system  of  can- 
butions,  teaches  that  if  the  Sanitary  Com-  £^0*J* 
mission  had  adopted  in  all  the  loyal  States  its  results, 
the  method  it  employed  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  twice  the 
large  revenues  they  enjoyed  might  have  been  realized: 
a  fact  recorded  for  its  instructiveness  to  future  laborers 
in  this  field,  and  not  because  of  any  regrets  that  it 
was  not  adopted,  since  the  means  employed  proved 
adequate  to  the  wants  of  the  Commission,  which 
after  the  first  fifteen  months  of  its  existence  was  never 
(for  five  years)  without  stores  and  money  commensu 
rate  with  its  demands  and  wants. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  debt  of 
gratitude  due  to  the  gentlemen  composing  the  original 
Committee  of  Citizens  in  San  Francisco,  or  the  Board 
of  the  California  Branch  for  their  faithful  and  pro 
tracted  labors.  The  President  of  the  Commission  was 
a  grateful  witness  to  the  zeal  and  generosity  of  each  and 
every  member  of  the  latter  Board.  The  Mayors  of  the 
city,  Mr.  Teschemacherand  Mr.  Coon,  who  were  Presi 
dents  of  the  Citizen's  Committee,  and  Hon.  D.  C. 
McRuer,  M.  C.,  President  of  the  California  Branch, 
James  Otis,  Esq.,  Treasurer  of  the  Citizens'  Committee, 
and  R.  G-.  Sneath,  Treasurer  of  the  California  Branch, 
deserve  particular  mention  for  their  laborious  services. 

It  would  leave  a  great  blank  in  the  history  of  this 


234  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

movement  if  we  failed  to  name  some  of  the  peculiari 


resorted  ties  in  the  methods  adopted  on  the  Pacific 

to  to  stimulate     _  .    .  ,  . 

public  interest,  Coast  for  raising  money  for  the  Sanitary 
Commission.  Ingenuity,  grotesqueness,  extravagance 
were  never  taxed  more  freely  or  to  better  effect,  or  in 
so  worthy  a  cause.  Places  of  public  amusement, 
churches,  schools,  agricultural  fairs,  lyceums,  private 
parties,  public  elections,  in  short,  any  assembly  of 
human  beings  of  any  kind,  and  at  any  time  were  con 
sidered  proper  occasions  and  places  for  calling  upon 
the  people  present  to  raise  money  for  the  Sanitary 
fund.  No  public  gathering  was  sanctified  unless  some 
thing  had  been  done  for  the  soldiers.  It  mattered 
little  whether  notice  had  been  given  or  not  ;  the  more 
sudden  the  call,  often  the  more  successful  it  seemed. 
It  was  enough  for  somebody  to  rise  and  propose  a  col 
lection  for  the  Sanitary  fund  to  put  everybody  into 
good  temper,  and  a  giving  disposition.  If  they  were 
excited  by  a  political  speech,  they  let  off  their  enthu 
siasm  in  a  Sanitary  collection  ;  if  a  favorite  at  the 
circus  or  the  theatre  specially  flattered  their  humor, 
it  was  turned  in  some  way  in  aid  of  the  Soldiers'  Fund. 
If  they  went  to  the  polls,  it  was  with  a  ballot  in  one 
hand  and  a  half-eagle  in  the  other,  the  one  for  the  can 
didate  who  was  to  represent  them  in  Congress,  the  other 
for  the  wounded  soldier  who  had  represented  them  in 
the  field. 

But  it  was  at  meetings  called  for  the  purpose,  at 
pic-nics  and  fairs  usually  on  some  "  high  day,"  and 
Sales  at  auction,  specially  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  that  the  pe 
culiarities  of  California  life  and  character  showed  them 
selves  in  their  most  gorgeous  extravagance  and  generous 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM   CALIFORNIA.  235 

oddity.  Then  it  was  that  they  resorted  to  their  favo 
rite  method  of  selling  at  auction  such  gifts  in  kind  as 
might  have  been  added  to  their  contribution  in  money, 
— it  might  be  a  picture,  a  specimen  of  gold  quartz,  a  live 
pullet,  a  revolver,  a  watch,  a  hose-carriage,  an  auto 
graph, — any  thing  which  the  means  or  convenience  or 
humor  of  the  donor  might  have  sent  in  which  was 
knocked  down  to  the  highest  bidder,  with  the  implied 
understanding,  that  after  paying  for  it,  he  was  to  give  it 
back  again  to  the  auctioneer  to  be  re-sold  to  the  same 
company.  Often  have  we  seen  one  article — a  white  pul 
let,  for  instance, — not  intrinsically  worth  a  dollar,  sold  to 
five  or  ten  successive  "  highest  bidders"  for  sums  vary 
ing  from  five  to  twenty  dollars,  until  the  sum  realized 
amounted  to  over  one  hundred  dollars.  A  box  of 
strawberries  of  herculean  size,  presented  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Commission  at  the  Sacramento  pic-nic  in  a 
solemn  and  beautiful  wood  of  oaks,  named  in  his 
honor  "  Bellows  Grove,"  was  sold  for  a  gold  dollar  for 
each  strawberry,  (each  the  size  of  a  pullet's  egg,)  while 
the  biggest  was  sold  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-three 
dollars  !  On  the  same  occasion,  the  train  of  the  Pacific 
Rail  Road  (where  some  twenty  cars  were  linked  to 
gether)  which  carried  the  company  to  the  grounds,  being 
delayed  for  an  hour  by  an  unexpected  obstruction,  some 
enterprising  passenger  who  had  brought  his  fowling- 
piece,  stepped  out  into  the  chapparal  and  shot  a  hare, 
and  then  entering  at  the  rear  car,  passed  through  the 
whole  train,  selling  it  to  one  after  another,  until  he  came 
out  at  the  front  with  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  dollars 
for  the  fund — the  greatest  amount,  we  make  bold  to 
say,  for  which  a  hare  was  ever  yet  sold  and  by  a  plan 


236  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

which  only  an  enthusiasm  "  as  mad  as  a  March  hare" 
could  ever  have  ventured  upon. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  wildest  and   most  successful 
extravagance  ever   practised  in   the  interests  of  the 
sack  of  sanitary  Sanitary  fund  was  started  at  Austin,  Nevada, 
in  the  wildest  part  of  the  desert,  half-way 
between  Virginia  City  and  Utah.     There  the  two  can 
didates  for  the  mayoralty  of  a  city  not  two  years  old, 
but  with  five  thousand  inhabitants,  had  each  agreed  if 
defeated  to  carry  a  sack   of  flour  on  his  back  from 
Austin  to  a  neighboring  village,  in  broad  day.     Ac 
cordingly,  when  Mr.  R.  C.  Gridley  lost  his  election,  he 
prepared  to  fulfill  his  engagement.     Headed  by  a  band 
of  music  in  a  wagon,  leading  his  little  boy  clad  in  the 
National  uniform  by  the  hand,  and  with  the  sack  of 
flour  on  his  back,  followed  by  a  mongrel  procession  of 
miners  and  citizens,  Mr.  Gridley  took  up  his  foot  jour 
ney  to    the    appointed    place.      Arrived    there,   the 
thought  struck  him,  that  the  gay  spirits  and  the  patri 
otic  feelings  of  the  crowd  that  grew  as  he  traveled, 
might  be  turned  to  humane  account.     He  instantly  pro 
posed  to  sell  the  now  famous  sack  of  flour  to  the  highest 
bidder.     The  humor  took.     The  sack  was  sold  again 
and  again,  netting  five  thousand  dollars.    The  amount 
realized  fired  Mr.  Gridley's  enthusiasm  to  make  the 
most  of  his  lucky  idea.     Accordingly  he  started  for  a 
journey  of  three  hundred  miles  to  Virginia  City  with 
the  sack  in  company.     Arriving  on  a  Sunday,  and 
finding   a  Sanitary  meeting  going  on   in   the  Opera 
House  in  the  afternoon,  he  proceeded  to  the  place,  got 
admitted  to  the  stage,  and  there  telling  the  story,  sold 
the  sack  to  the  audience  for  five  hundred  and  eighty 


CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  237 

dollars.  The  next  morning,  having  procured  a  band 
of  music,  he  proceeded  to  make  the  tour  of  the  neigh 
boring  towns,  Gold  Hill,  Silver  City,  and  Dayton,  sell 
ing  the  sack  wherever  he  could  find  bidders,  and 
adding  the  price  to  the  amount  labelled  on  the  face  of 
this  more  than  Fortunatus'  purse.  At  Gold  Hill,  the 
sack  sold  for  five  thousand,  eight  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  dollars  and  fifty  cents ;  at  Silver  City  for  eight 
hundred  and  thirty  dollars  ;  at  Dayton  for  eight  hun 
dred  and  seventy-three  dollars.  Finally,  returning  to 
Virginia  City  again,  the  sack  putting  forth  all  its  at 
tractions,  won  a  prodigious  subscription  of  twelve 
thousand  and  twenty-five  dollars !  Mr.  Gridley,  pur 
suing  his  successful  way,  not  in  pursuit  of  the  golden 
fleece,  but  in  actual  possession  of  it,  arrived  at  Sacra 
mento,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  further  west,  just 
as  the  Sanitary  pic-nic  at  Bellows'  Grove  was  in  pro 
gress.  In  the  midst  of  the  festivities  he  marched  into 
the  crowd,  a  band  of  music  leading  the  way,  a  stalwart 
negro  walking  by  his  side  carrying  the  sack,  and  an 
extempore  procession  following  him,  which  grew  larger 
every  minute  and  presented  himself  for  new  conquests 
to  the  officers  of  the  day,  and  the  President  of  the  Com 
mission.  The  sack  did  not  fare  as  well  here  as  before. 
Several  fresh  wrinkles  of  humor  had  broken  out  in 
the  face  of  that  occasion.  Among  others,  a  good 
woman,  finding  a  small  island  of  a  few  rods  square  in 
the  swamp,  had  erected  a  bridge  of  one  plank,  and 
established  such  a  rate  of  toll,  that  to  see  nothing  there 
cost  the  curiosity  of  some  hundreds  a  half-dollar  each. 
Then  the  President  of  the  Commission  was  invited 
to  shake  hands  with  some  hundreds  of  the  company, 


238  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

who  bought  the  privilege  at  from  fifty  cents  to  a  double 
eagle  a-piece,  making  his  hat  their  till,  until  it  was 
literally  half  full  of  silver  and  gold.  Under  these 
rival  excitements,  the  sack  was  not  favored  with  its 
wonted  success.  Carried  thence  to  Sacramento,  it  was 
sold  again  at  a  public  lecture  by  Dr.  Bellows  for  seve 
ral  hundred  dollars,  and  finally,  transported  to  San 
Francisco,  it  added  moderate  gains  to  its  enormous 
harvest  even  in  that  comparatively  staid  community. 
Six  months  afterwards,  what  was  the  surprise  of 
the  recorder  of  this  strange  history,  to  find  the  sack 
with  its  irrepressible  owner  in  New  York,  and  on 
its  way  to  the  great  Fair  at  St.  Louis  !  Plans  already 
existed  for  carrying  it  across  the  ocean  to  England,  and 
it  would  not  astonish  us  to  learn  that  it  had  appeared 
in  Sydenham  Palace,  or  even  in  the  great  Paris  exhi 
bition  of  1867 !  The  sum  realized  by  it  to  the  Sani 
tary  fund  cannot  have  been  less  than  forty  thousand 
dollars. 

It  would  be  unjust  not  to  name  expressly  the  pecu 
liar  zeal  and  persistency  which  some  of  the  towns  in 
Sacramento,  California  exhibited  in  this  work  of  mercy. 
Perhaps  not  even  San  Francisco  outstripped  Sacramento 
in  generosity,  if  we  consider  their  relative  importance 
and  wealth.  The  Sacramento  Valley  Soldiers'  Aid 
Society  was  a  separate  organization,  which  began  early 
and  continued  late  in  the  service,  and  was  always  drop 
ping  magnificent  and  unexpected  gifts  into  the  treasury 
of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission.  The  ladies 
and  gentlemen  of  that  hospitable  city,  the  fair  capital  of 
the  State,  were  among  the  warmest  and  most  constant 
friends  of  the  Soldier,  and  the  special  cause  of  the 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  239 

Commission.  Under  Messrs.  Carroll,  President,  and 
Crocker,  Treasurer,  there  was  no  room  for  lukewarm- 
ness  and  no  possibility  of  failure.  Their  names,  with 
a  hundred  others  of  that  generous  city  should  be  kept 
in  everlasting  remembrance. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  while  San  Francisco 
was  the  head  and  centre  of  all  this  movement,  the 
whole  state  was  alive  with  interest  and  effort,  and  at 
least  fifty  counties,  and  a  hundred  towns,  are  worthy  of 
having  their  history  written  were  time  and  space 
allowed. 

Nevada  Territory  (now  the  State  of  Nevada)  early 
took  up  the  cause  of  the  National  Soldier  Nevada. 

and  the  support  of  the  Sanitary  Commission.  Under 
the  admirable  leadership  of  Almarin  B.  Paul,  a  well 
known  and  most  energetic  Miner  and  Banker  in  Gold 
Hill,  that  new  constellation  of  gold  and  silver  villages 
and  towns,  lying  round  Virginia  City,  all  shed  be 
nignant  beams — and  very  substantial  ones — upon  the 
Central  Treasury. 

A  great  success  attended  the  labors  of  the  Original 
Committee,  and  of  the  Nevada  Branch  afterwards 
organized.  Mr.  Paul  indefatigable  himself,  was  sup 
ported  by  energetic  men  in  each  of  the  Counties  of 
the  Territory  and  State  and  silver  and  gold  in 
bullion  and  in  coin  rolled  into  the  hands  of  the  trea 
surer,  Mr.  Black.  The  President  of  the  Commission 
passed  ten  days  in  the  Territory  with  great  pleasure 
to  himself  and  advantage  to  the  Commission,  address 
ing  crowded  audiences  for  seven  successive  nights  in 
seven  different  places,  and  forming  a  very  high  idea  of 
the  generosity  and  patriotism  of  the  people.  The 


240  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

amount  of  money  sent  forward  by  Nevada,  was  in 
currency  one  hundred  and  seven  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-two  dollars  and  ninety-six  cents,  which  con 
sidering  its  population  of  not  over  fifty  thousand  is  an 
astonishing  contribution  of  over  two  dollars  for  every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  the  State. 

Oregon,  too,  a  state  not  rich  in  mines  or  in  money, 
but  in  lands  and  in  forests,  early  showed  that  its 
Oregon.  fidelity  to  the  Union. was  perfect,  and  its  zeal 

for  the  Army  enthusiastic.  Hon.  Amory  Hoibrook  was 
the  first  to  communicate  to  the  Commission  the  substan 
tial  proof  of  Oregon's  devotion  to  the  National  Cause, 
and  the  zeal  and  success  of  his  endeavors  appear  to 
have  contributed  very  much  of  the  original  impulse  to 
the  work.  Later,  the  Governor  and  other  friends  took 
up  the  laboring  oar.  It  is  difficult  to  do  full  justice  to 
noble,  enterprising,  vigorous  Portland,  after  San  Fran 
cisco  the  most  important  place  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
which  steadily  poured  its  largess  into  our  Treasury  ;  to 
Salem,  Albany,  Oregon  City,  Eugene  City  and  other 
towns  which  vied  with  the  commercial  capital  in  their 
constancy  and  zeal,  if  not  in  their  ability.  Oregon 
sent  seventy-nine  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  dollars  and  nineteen  cents  to  the  Treasury  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission,  more  money  than  any  Atlantic 
State,  as  such,  except  New  York,  Pennnsylvania  and 
Massachusetts. 

Washington  Territory,  too,  with  her  very  scattered 
population,  sent  the  extraordinary  sum  of  twenty 
Washington  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighteen  dollars 
Territory,  anc[  ninety-two  cents,  thanks  to  the  zeal  of 
Vancouver  and  Olympia. 


CONTKIBUTIONS    FROM    CALIFORNIA.  241 

The  Sandwich  Islands,  proved  an  unexpected  foun 
tain  of  supply.  The  few  Americans  there  seemed 
unwearied  in  their  joy  at  giving.  Captain  The  Sandwich 
Makee's  gift  alone  cannot  have  fallen  short  of  Islands- 
five  thousand  dollars,  while  the  sum  total  reached  the 
extraordinary  amount  of  fifteen  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  sixty-eight  dollars  and  fifteen  cents.  We  must 
here  acknowledge  the  great  indebtedness  of  the  Com 
mission,  to  its  correspondent  in  Honolulu,  Alex.  J. 
Cartwright,  through  whose  patient  and  long-continued 
faithfulness,  all  the  moneys  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
have  been  forwarded. 

Idaho,  sent  five  thousand  three  hundred  and  one 
dollars  and  thirty-one  cents.  Colorado  one  thousand 
and  twenty-five  dollars.  Vancouver's  Island  IdaK  Colorado, 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  pe^tosteBic'a! 
dollars  and  sixty-one  cents.  Peru,  two  thousand  and 
two  dollars.  Costa  Rica,  eighty-four  dollars. 

We  have  then  this  extraordinary  show  of  liberality 
from  Americans  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  General  result, 
adjacent  islands. 

California $1,233,831  31 

Nevada 107,642  96 

Oregon 79,371  19 

Washington  Territory 20,918  92 

Sandwich  Islands 15968  15 

Waho 5^301  31 

Colorado 1^025  00 

Vancouver's  Island 2  195  61 

Santiago  de  Chili 5^060  52 

peru 2j002  00 

Costa  Rica 8400 


$1,473,407  07 

Thus  it  appears  that  nearlv  a  million  and  a  half  of 


242  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

the  whole  five  millions  of  cash  received  into  the  Trea- 
'sury  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  came  from  the  Pacific 
Coast.  Of  the  remaining  three  and  a  half  millions,  two 
million  seven  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  dollars  and  eighty-four  cents 
were  the  results  of  Fairs,  leaving  only  about  seven 
hundred  thousand  dollars  as  the  total  amount  contri 
buted  in  cash  by  all  other  sources  of  a  spontaneous 
kind. 

It  will  not  be  forgotten,  that  the  other  sections  of  the 
country  supplied  stores  to  the  amount  of  fifteen 
General  conciu-  millions  of  dollars  in  value,  and  gave  its 
most  precious  wealth,  the  lives  of  two  hun 
dred  thousand  men  to  the  conflict,  risking  a  million 
and  a  half  of  its  sons  in  the  perilous  fight.  But  the 
Pacific  Coast  would  as  gladly  have  given  its  men  and 
its  supplies,  if  they  could  have  been  received,  and 
would  not  have  withheld  its  money  either.  The 
noble  generosity  of  its  contributions  must  be  re 
membered  forever.  No  such  splendid  beneficence  of 
a  state  to  distant  objects,  for  general  purposes  under 
unknown  almoners,  over  whom  the  State  had  no  con 
trol,  and  where  no  visible  monument  was  to  remain, 
was  ever  yet  recorded.  The  consent  of  the  people  in  a 
common  effort,  which  no  jealous  sectarian  or  political 
rivalries  could  alienate  them  from,  their  confidence  in 
the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission  and  constancy 
to  it  to  the  last,  are  extraordinary  proofs  of  their 
trusting,  unsuspicious  temper,  thorough  disinterested 
ness  and  sympathetic  patriotism.  California  may 
rightly  put  upon  her  State  shield,  the  claim  to  have 
been  the  largest,  promptest,  most  efficient  helper  and 


CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM    CALIFORNIA.  243 

nurse  of  our  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  in  the  great 
War  for  National  Unity  and  Life.  Considering  her 
distance  and  her  youth,  what  more  honorable  and 
lasting  memorial  of  her  splendid  part  in  the  war  could 
she  have,  or  ought  she  to  desire  ?* 

*  See  appendix  No.  5  for  a  detailed  account  of  the  contributions  from  Cali 
fornia  and  the  Pacific  Coast. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

DISTKIBUTION  OF  SUPPLIES— GENEKAL  AND  BATTLE-FIELD 

BELIEF. 

HAVING  thus  traced  the  principal  methods  by  which 
the  vast  contributions  of  Hospital  supplies  confided  to 
Different  forms  the  Commission  during  the  war  were 
of  Army  Belief,  gathered,  it  remains  to  explain  in  what  man 
ner,  and  upon  what  principle  they  were  distributed 
for  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  suffering  of  the  Army. 
The  word  "  Relief,"  as  used  by  the  Sanitary  Commis 
sion,  was  a  technical  term,  and  embraced  a  number  of 
distinct  modes  of  ministering  to  the  necessities  of  the 
soldier,  according  to  the  different  circumstances  in 
which  he  might  be  found  requiring  assistance.  Thus, 
the  work  of  relief  was  divided  into  General  and 
Special  relief.  The  fir§t  concerned  the  wants  of  the 
inmates  of  General,  Field  and  Regimental  hospitals, 
and  of  men  in  camp  or  on  the  march ;  the  other, 
the  care  of  sick  and  needy  soldiers  in  the  vicinity  of 
military  depots,  discharged  men,  paroled  prisoners, 
and  that  vast  class  of  sufferers  known  as  soldiers  in 
"  irregular  circumstances"  or,  in  other  words,  those 
that  had  no  legal  claim  upon  the  ordinary  provisions 
of  the  government  for  assistance.  Another  distinct 
form  of  relief  was  what  was  called,  Battle-field  relief, 
a  term  which  sufficiently  explains  its  object. 

244 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  245 

In  undertaking  to  administer  these  different  forms 
of  Relief,  it  was  necessary  in  accordance  with  the  Com 
mission's  theory,  to  ascertain  accurately  the  Principle  upon 

J  i  •  i    which  relief  was 

real  wants  of  the  Army,  so  that  aid  bestowed, 
should  not  be  afforded,  even  where  it  seemed  needed, 
unless  it  was  withheld  for  some  reason  which  justi 
fied  intervention  outside  the  Agencies  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  It  was  important  to  distinguish  carefully, 
between  those  wants  for  which  the  only  radical  remedy 
could  be  found  in  an  improvement  of  the  military  ad 
ministration,  and  those  which,  inevitably  occurring, 
even  under  the  best  administered  system,  might  be 
properly  relieved  by  the  contributions  of  public  benevo 
lence. 

This  subject  had  been  carefully  studied  by  the 
Commission  in  the  light  which  had  been  shed  upon  it 
by  the  reports  of  its  Inspectors,  and  as  its  design  to 
experience  rendered  the  practical  working  JjJjJJJ^tt 
of  the  Army  system  more  familiar,  a  service, 
very  clear  view  was  gained  of  the  true  sphere 
of  the  Government  on  one  side,  and  of  the  Com 
mission's  special  field  of  labor  on  the  other.  Its 
fundamental  principle  was  to  supplement,  not  to  sup 
plant  the  government.  The  necessity  of  supplying  the 
government  deficiencies  was  apparent,  but  when,  and 
how,  and  under  what  circumstances  this  was  to  be  done, 
so  as  not  to  impair  the  responsibility  of  the  officials, 
and  so  as  to  afford  the  truest  relief  to  the  soldier,  was  in 
practice,  an  exceedingly  delicate  and  difficult  problem. 
It  was  impossible  to  establish  any  uniform  rule  by  which 
the  same  apparent  wants  should  always  be  supplied 
in  the  same  way.  Theoretically,  the  Government 


246  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

undertook  of  course,  to  provide  all  that  was  necessary 
for  the  care  and  comfort  of  the  soldier  in  the  Army  and 
in  the  Hospital.  The  Government  standard  in  this 
matter  was  always  fluctuating,  generally  advancing 
and  improving;  but  at  no  time  was  it  true,  and  perhaps 
in  the  nature  of  things  could  not  be  that  it  provided 
fully  for  the  particular  necesity  of  each  particular  man. 
Even  had  the  system  been  one  upon  which  a  reason 
able  expectation  could  have  been  founded  of  abundant 
and  regular  supply,  the  good  intentions  of  the  Gov 
ernment  were  liable,  at  any  particular  point,  to  be 
frustrated  by  the  inefficiency  or  incompetency  of  its 
own  officers.  Still  it  was  considered  essential,  that  in 
no  case  should  stores  entrusted  to  the  Commission  be 
distributed  in  the  Camps  or  in  the  Hospitals,  until  it 
was  clearly  ascertained  that  Government  had  failed  to 
make  adequate  provision  for  the  supposed  need.  It 
was  therefore  an  established  rule  of  the  Commission, 
that  none  of  its  supplies  should  be  issued  in  ordinary 
cases,  unless  first,  the  need  of  them  was  apparent, 
secondly,  unless  some  satisfactory  explanation  was  given 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  need  had  arisen,  and 
thirdly,  unless  a  written  voucher  or  statement  was 
presented  by  the  Surgeon  applying  for  assistance,  show 
ing  why  the  Commission  had  been  called  on.  These 
rules  were  strict,  but  their  observance  was  essential 
if  the  distribution  of  supplies  by  the  Commission  was 
not  to  be  hurtful  in  many  cases  to  the  men  themselves, 
and  if  that  distribution  was  not  to  be  made  the  occa 
sion  for  the  introduction  of  those  loose  notions  of  dis 
cipline  into  the  Army,  which  would  have  resulted  in 
tenfold  greater  injury  to  it  than  any  good  which 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    SUPPLIES.  247 

could  possibly  have  arisen  from  an  irregular  mode  of 
relief. 

How  different  this  system  was  from  many  of  the 
schemes  of  relief  which  had  been  suggested,  both  in  its 
view  of  the  true  relations  of  a  volunteer  or-  HOW  it  differed 
ganization  working  in  concert  with  the  Army  *°mms  ° 
officials,  and  in  its  practical  results  in  main-  relief. 
taining  the  proper  responsibility  of  those  officials,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  perceive.  The  clamor,  during  the  war, 
among  many  well-meaning  but  indiscreet  persons,  was 
for  personal  ministrations  to  the  suffering,  to  be  be 
stowed  by  those  in  no  way  connected  with  the  military 
service,  and  of  course  wholly  irresponsible.  An  opinion 
prevailed  that  the  Surgeons  and  Hospital  Stewards 
could  not  be  trusted  to  dispense  delicacies  and  luxuries 
provided  by  sympathizing  friends  at  home  for  the  use  of 
the  patients.  Prompted  by  this  suspicion,  and  perhaps 
disposed  to  gratify  the  natural  desire  to  receive  ex 
pressions  of  gratitude  from  the  suffering,  many  per 
sons  forced  themselves  into  the  Hospitals,  interfered 
with  their  discipline,  and  too  often  by  their  injudicious 
kindness  provided  the  patients  with  articles  of  food 
which  destroyed  all  chances  of  their  recovery.  The 
Commission  pursued  the  opposite  course.  Thinking, 
of  all  evils,  the  worst  that  could  befall  an  Army  be 
cause  it  included  all  others,  was  a  relaxation  of  salutary 
discipline,  and  of  a  just  sense  of  official  responsibility, 
it  subordinated  all  its  plans,  even  for  the  relief  of  suf 
fering  to  the  maintenance  of  that  discipline  in  its 
strictest  form.  While  its  own  methods  were  elastic, 
and  intended  to  meet  any  possible  emergency,  it  never 
forgot  that  the  great  purpose  of  an  Army  organization 


248  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

was  to  train  men  to  fight  and  to  conquer.  To  effect 
this  object,  perfect  subordination  and  accountability 
were  essential ;  and  just  as  it  was  impossible  that  an 
Army  which  had  gained  a  victory  should  be  delayed  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  retreating  enemy  in  order  to  look 
after  its  wounded,  so  it  determined  that  if  the  relief  of 
the  suffering  required  a  violation  of  those  rules  of 
military  discipline  upon  the  observance  of  which  the 
safety  of  all  depended,  the  sacrifice  should  be  made  for 
the  general  good.  There  were  many  cases  during  the 
war  in  which  the  officers  of  the  Commission  seriously 
differed  in  opinion  with  the  Government  Agents  as  to 
the  proper  care  of  the  suffering,  but  they  never  forgot 
this  fundamental  principle  of  non-intervention  beyond 
their  legitimate  sphere ;  so  far  from  it,  they  were  un 
ceasing,  by  their  example  and  counsel,  in  their  efforts 
to  make  all  in  the  Army  understand  .that  they  were 
there,  not  to  embarrass  the  Government  officials,  but 
to  aid  them  when  their  aid  was  invoked  in  the  ap 
pointed  way.  They  sought  to  teach  the  soldier  that 
the  Government  was  his  best  friend,  desirous  of  doing 
everything  for  him,  and  failing,  as  all  Governments 
had  done  sometimes,  from  occasional  and  accidental 
causes.  They  never  joined  in  the  foolish  cry,  so  com 
mon  during  the  war,  against 'red  tape' and  Army  regu 
lations,  for  they  were  persuaded,  that  without  the 
strict  accountability  which  it  was  intended  to  secure  by 
these  means  there  would  soon  have  been  no  Army  to 
take  care  of. 

These  were  some  of  the  principles  upon  which  what 
was  technically  called  General  Relief  was  administered 
by  the  Commission  to  the  soldier,  who  was  subject 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    SUPPLIES. 

to   the    ordinary  and   usual    care    of    the  Personal  minis 
trations  to  the 
Medical  Authorities.    Everything  was  done  suffering, 

through  the  Surgeons  or  other  responsible  officers, 
nothing  without  their  knowledge  and  implied  sanc 
tion.  In  the  other  branch  of  the  department,  that 
known  as  Special  Relief,  where  the  soldier  was, 
for  the  time  out  of  his  normal  practical  relations 
with  the  authorities,  the  rule  was  just  the  opposite; 
and  here  the  personal  services  of  the  agents  of  the 
Commission  and  its  supplies  were  freely  given.  To 
minister  to  the  wants  of  a  single  class  of  these  men, — 
those  discharged  from  the  service,  and  therefore  from 
the  care  of  the  Government,  and  obliged  to  remain  for 
a  few  hours  or  days,  owing  to  their  feeble  condition  or 
their  desire  to  collect  the  amount  of  pay  due  them,  at 
some  point  in  transitu  to  their  homes, — the  Commission 
maintained  during  the  war,  at  different  points,  forty 
Homes  and  Lodges,  which  received  more  than  a  mil 
lion  and  a  half  of  inmates,  and  provided  them  with 
more  than  four  millions  of  meals.  This  branch  of  the 
Commission's  service,  however,  was  so  novel  in  its 
character,  and  attained  such  vast  proportions  that  it 
will  require  special  consideration  hereafter. 

The  principle  of  distribution  being  thus  settled,  it  is 
necessary  to  describe  the  machinery  by  which  the  gifts 
of  the  people  at  last  reached  the  soldier,  and  Machinery  for 

.     .         ,   .  the  distribution 

the  means  adopted  lor  ascertaining  his  wants  Of  supplies, 
at  a  particular  time.  The  contributions  of  the  various 
Aid  Societies  were  sent  in  the  first  place  to  sub-depots, 
ten  in  number,  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  where 
they  were  assorted  and  repacked,  articles  of  the  same 
kind  being  placed  in  separate  cases,  and  were  held  sub- 

32 


250  UNITED   STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

ject  to  the  requisitions  of  the  officers  of  the  Commis 
sion  in  charge  of  the  great  central  distributing  depots. 
These  depots,  during  the  war  were  at  Washington  and 
Louisville,  they  being  the  great  gateways,  through  which 
passed  all  supplies,  of  every  kind,  for  the  use  of  the 
principal  armies,  operating  against  the  enemy.  Both  in 
these  sub-depots  and  in  the  distributing  depots  a  rigid 
system  of  accountability  was  maintained  in  the  recep 
tion,  care  and  issue  of  the  goods.  So  completely  was 
this  system  carried  out,  that  it  could  not  be  ascertained 
after  the  most  careful  investigation,  that  of  the 
many  thousands  of  boxes  sent  to  the  depots  during 
the  war,  more  than  a  very  insignificant  portion  had 
failed  to  reach  their  destination.  At  the  distribut 
ing  depots,  these  articles  were  accumulated,  not  merely 
to  supply  the  current  wants  of  the  army,  but  also  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  a  reserve  stock  to  be  made 
immediately  available  in  the  event  of  great  battles,  in 
which  case  delay  in  forwarding  them  from  points  dis 
tant  from  the  scene  of  conflict  might  involve  the  loss 
of  many  lives.  This  wise  prevision  was  abundantly 
justified  by  the  events  of  the  war.  Amidst  the  horrors 
and  confusion  of  a  battle-field  all  ordinary  means  of 
Relief,  Government  or  supplemental,  are  soon  ex 
hausted,  and  the  immense  distribution  of  supplies  with 
its  life-saving  results,  which  took  place  after  Antietam, 
Gettysburg,  and  the  bloody  battles  of  the  Wilderness 
Campaign  would  not  have  been  possible  had  a  differ 
ent  policy  been  pursued. 

To  each  Army  sent  upon  a  distant  expedition,  and 
generally  to  each  column  of  the  main  Armies  operat- 
seiief  Agents,  ing  in  Virginia,  and  in  the  Southwest,  was 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  251 

assigned  an  Inspector,  as  Superintendent  of  the  Com 
mission's  work  with  a  competent  staff  of  assistants, 
known  as  Relief  Agents.     This  corps  was  permanently 
attached  to  the  Army  as  an  integral  part  of  its  organi 
zation,  and  accompanied  it  in  all  its  movements.     Con 
nected  with  it  and  under  its  charge,  was  the  Commis 
sion's  depot  of  supplies,  larger  or  smaller  according  to 
the  actual  or  prospective  wants  of  the  Army.     Wagons 
and  teams,  and  where  needed  steamboats  also,  were  pro 
vided  by  the  Commission,  not  only  to  transport  such  sup 
plies  as  might  be  required  in  the  Hospitals  attached  to 
the  Army  while  encamped,  but  also  to  accompany  it  with 
a  suitable  stock  of  articles  when  on  the  march.     The 
business  of  the  Inspector,  who  wras  always  a  Medical 
man,  was  to  visit  constantly  the  Hospitals  within  his 
jurisdiction,  to  ascertain  their  wants,  to  make  sugges 
tions  to  the  Surgeons  in  charge  in  regard  to  evils  which 
were  observed  requiring  correction,  and  to  assist  them 
by  an  offer  of  such  supplies  for  the  use  of  the  sick  as 
might  be  needed,  but  which  the  Government  had  failed 
to  provide.     There  never  was  a  time  during  the  war 
when  the  Surgeons  were  not  too  glad  to  avail  them 
selves  of  this  assistance,  and  they  never  hesitated  to 
make  requisitions  on  the  Commission  in  the  form  re 
quired  by  its  rules  for  any  articles  of  which  they  hap 
pened  to  be  destitute,  and  which  could  in  any  way  pro 
mote  the  comfort  or  hasten  the  recovery  of  the  patients 
under  their  charge. 

It  is  most  gratifying  to  remember  that  there  was  no 
occasion  during  the  progress  of  the  war,  at  least  after 
the  organization  of  the  Supply  Department,  Vast  scale  upon 
and  the  arrival  of  the  first  instalment  of  the  afforded. 


252  UNITED    STATES   SANITAKY   COMMISSION. 

golden  treasure  from  the  Pacific  Coast  in  the  autumn 
of  1862,  in  which  the  resources  of  the  Commission  were 
not  found  sufficient  for  this  call  for  supplemental  aid. 
Whether  the  wants  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  were 
confined  to    suitable  Hospital    clothing  and  Hospital 
diet,  whether  General  Rosecrans'  army  before  Chatta 
nooga,  or  that  of  General  Grant  before  Vicksburg  was 
wasting   away  from   the    terrible    effects   of    scurvy, 
whether  General  Gilmore's  army  on  Morris  Island  was 
perishing  of  disease  aggravated  by  the  use  of  brackish 
water,  or  that  of  General  Weitzel  in  Texas  was  suffer 
ing  from  a  total  deprivation  of   vegetable  food,   the 
stores  of  the  Commission  were  always  found  abundant 
for  supplying  the  particular  necessity,  and  were  con 
veyed  to  the  sufferers  with  a  promptness  and  with  an 
abundance,  which  never  failed  speedily  to  restore  their 
shattered   strength.     It  seemed   indeed  just   as  easy 
with  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Commission,  and 
with  the  thorough  organization  of  its  system  to  forward 
cargoes  of  ice  and  anti-scorbutics  to  South  Carolina  or 
Texas,  or  to  transport  thousands  of  barrels  of  onions 
and  potatoes  from  the  distant  Northwest  to  the  Armies 
of  General  Rosecrans  or  General  Grant,  as  to  send  a  few 
cases  of  shirts  and  drawers,  and  of  Hospital  delicacies 
from   Washington    to    the   Army   of    the    Potomac. 
Relief   on   this  vast  scale  was  the   ordinary  regular 
work  of  the  Commission,  and  was  designed  to  meet  the 
constantly  recurring  wants  of  an  Army  in  the  field. 
It  was  totally  distinct  and  independent  of  that  form  of 
relief  afforded  after  great  battles  and  known  specially 
in    the    work    of    the    Commission,    as    Battle-field 
relief,  but  its  extent  and  the  wonderful  results  which 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  253 

followed  from  its  bestowal  may  be  inferred  from  the 
vast  territory  which  it  embraced,  and  the  great  re 
sources  required  fully  to  meet  the  unceasing  demand. 
Although  the  Commission's  work  on  battle-fields  be 
came  more  conspicuous  because  public  attention  was 
naturally  more  directed  to  it,  the  money  and  supplies 
required  to  maintain  in  thorough  efficiency,  a  system 
which  sought  to  promote  the  health  of  the  men  wrhile 
in  camps,  in  order  that  they  might  afterwards  fight 
battles  successfully,  required  tenfold  greater  labor  and 
resources. 

This  constant,  never-ceasing  care  for  the  health  and 
comfort  of  the  Army,  the  absence  of  all  improper  inter 
meddling  with  the  officers,  the  vast  extent  opinions  of  the 
of  the  work  and  its  perpetual  activity,  soon 
produced,  as  was  natural,  a  profound  im- 
pression  upon  the  military  authorities.  They  discov 
ered,  not  merely  that  it  was  conducted  on  principles 
which  they  could  recognize  and  approve,  but  also  that 
in  unforeseen  emergencies,  which  often  threatened  seri 
ous  disaster,  the  Commission  was  always  at  hand, 
prompt  and  ready  and  able  to  afford  the  needed  remedy. 
Commanding  Generals,  the  success  of  whose  operations 
depended  so  much  upon  the  physical  condition  of  their 
men,  lost  their  natural  jealousy  of  extra  official  co-ope 
ration,  and  not  only  testified  publicly  and  most  warmly 
in  favor  of  the  inestimable  value  of  the  Commission's 
services,  but  aided  its  efforts  in  every  way  by  granting 
to  its  agents  in  charge  of  supplies,  means  of  trans 
portation,  and  by  affording  them  various  facilities  for 
the  prosecution  of  their  work  which  were  denied  to 


254  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

other  associations  engaged  in  similar  labors.*  Even 
the  officers  of  the  Medical  Department  itself,  convinced 
by  their  own  personal  observation  that  it  was  possible 

"  HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TENNESSEE,  "I 
Vicksburg,  Miss.,  Sept.  28,  1863.        / 
"  Commanding  Officer,  Cairo,  111. : 

"  Sir,— Direct  the  Post  Quartermaster  at  Cairo  to  call  upon  the  U.  S.  Sanitary 
agent  at  your  place,  and  see  exactly  what  buildings  they  require  to  be  erected 
for  their  charitable  and  humane  purposes. 

"The  Commission  has  been  of  such  great  service  to  the  country,  and  at  Cairo 
are  doing  so  much  for  this  army  at  this  time,  that  I  am  disposed  to  extend  their 
facilities  for  doing  good  in  every  way  in  my  power.  You  will  therefore  cause 
to  be  put  up,  at  Government  expense,  suitable  buildings  for  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission,  connecting  those  they  already  have,  and  also  put  up  for  them  neces 
sary  outbuildings.  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"  (Signed)  U.  S.  GRANT, 

"Major  General." 

"  HEADQUARTERS  HTH  ARMY  CORPS, 
"  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  CUMBERLAND, 
Nashville,  Dec.  llth,  1862. 

"The  General  Commanding,  appreciating  the  vast  amount  of  good  which  the 
soldiers  of  this  Army  are  deriving  from  the  Sanitary  stores  distributed  among 
them  by  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  directs : 

"  That  all  officers  in  this  department  render  any  aid  consistent  with  their 
duties,  to  the  agents  of  this  society — and  afford  them  every  facility  for  the  exe 
cution  of  this  charitable  work. 

"  By  order  of 

"MAJ.  GEN.  W.  S.  KOSECRANS." 

"  DEP*T  OF  THE  SOUTH,  HEADQ'RS  IN  THE  FIELD,     \ 
"  MORRIS  ISLAND,  S.  C.,  SEPT.  9.         } 

"  General  Orders,  No.  73. 

"  The  Brigadier-General  commanding  desires  to  make  this  public  acknow 
ledgment  of  the  benefits  for  which  his  command  has  been  indebted  to  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  and  to  express  his  thanks  to  the  gentlemen 
whose  humane  efforts  in  procuring  and  distributing  much-needed  articles  of 
comfort  have  so  materially  alleviated  the  sufferings  of  the  soldiers. 

"  Especial  gratitude  is  due  to  Dr.  M.  M.  Marsh,  Medical  Inspector  of  the 
Commission,  through  whose  efficiency,  energy,  and  zeal,  the  wants  of  the  troops 
have  been  promptly  ascertained,  and  the  resources  of  the  Commission  made 
available  for  every  portion  of  the  Army. 

By  order  of 

Brig.-Gen.  Q.  A.  GILLMORE. 
"  ED.  W.  SMITH,  A.  A.  G." 


DISTRIBUTION   OF    SUPPLIES.  255 

so  to  conduct  a  volunteer  organization  in  the  Army  as 
really  to  aid  and  not  embarrass  them,  entered  into 
those  cordial  relations  with  it  which  had  been  from 
the  first  its  anxious  desire  to  establish,  and  many  of 
them  became  its  warmest  friends. 

The  machinery  by  which  these  plans  of  distribution 
were  carried  out  was  very  simple  but  very  effective. 
In  regard  to  Hospitals  at  the  base  of  military  Field  relief 
operations   or  in  large  cities,  in  which  the  CorPs 
wants  of  the  patients  were  more  readily  provided  for 
than  in  the  remote  Field  and  Regimental  Hospitals, 
the  duty  of  the  Inspector  was  easy,  and  the  demand  on 
the  stores   of  the   Commission  for   supplemental  aid, 
particularly  after  the   reorganization  of  the  Medical 
Department,  comparatively  light.     The  officers  of  the 
Commission,  enlightened  by  their  experience   of  the 
ever  varying  but  unceasing  wants  of  the  Army,  made 
constant  efforts  to  perfect  its  system  of  distribution. 
At  first,  as  we  have  seen,  a  single  depot  had  been  es 
tablished  near  the  Headquarters  of  each  Army,  and 
from  thence  was  issued,  under  the  requisitions  of  the 
Sanitary  Inspector  all  that  was  called  for  throughout 
its  various  divisions.     It  was  found,  however,  that  in 
order  to  accomplish  its  work  more  thoroughly  a  some 
what  different  arrangement  .of  labor  was  necessary. 
The  plan  adopted  was  substantially  one  suggested  by 
Dr.  Lewis  H.  Steiner,  one  of  the  most  valued  and  ex 
perienced  Inspectors  of  the  Commission,  and  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  new  corps,  with  instructions 
to  organize  its  work.     Under  the  general  superinten 
dence  of  Dr.  Steiner,  a  body  of  Agents  was  formed, 
called  the  Field  Relief  Corps,  one  of  whose  number 


256  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

was  assigned  to  each  Army  Corps.  He  had  charge  of 
the  whole  of  the  Commission's  work  in  the  particular 
corps  to  which  he  was  attached.  He  had  under  his 
charge  Agents  and  supplies  intended  exclusively  for 
the  service  of  that  particular  portion  of  the  Army,  and 
was  provided  with  wagons  and  horses,  in  order  to  ren 
der  that  service  more  complete  and  effective.  He 
remained  constantly  with  the  corps,  accompanied  it  on 
its  march,  and  in  every  way  became  thoroughly  iden 
tified  with  it.  In  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  there 
were  six  such  Relief  Agents,  all  working  in  harmoni 
ous  co-operation  with  the  Medical  Authorities  under 
the  orders  of  the  General  Inspector  or  Superintendent. 
They  replenished  their  stock  of  supplies,  as  it  became 
exhausted,  from  a  central  depot  established  at  the  mili 
tary  base,  which  depot  was  in  turn  kept  filled  by  requi 
sitions  on  the  storehouses  at  Washington. 

The  efficiency  of  this  system  depended  much,  of 
course,  upon  the  character  of  the  Agents  employed, 
character  and  and  their  exact  observance  of  the  rules  laid 

instruction     of 

the  agents.  down  by  the  Commission  for  conducting  its 
operations.  These  Agents  had  been  selected  with  the 
greatest  care  with  special  reference  to  their  peculiar 
qualifications  for  this  particular  duty.  The  policy  of 
the  Commission  in  this,  as  in  all  the  departments  of 
its  work,  was  to  secure  the  permanent  services  of 
capable  and  well- trained  men.  It  was  satisfied  that 
its  plans  could  never  be  thoroughly  or  efficiently 
carried  out  by  the  temporary,  spasmodic,  and  irrespon 
sible  labor  of  mere  volunteers.  During  the  war  there 
were  a  vast  number  of  persons,  who,  influenced  by 
motives  of  humanity,  and  sometimes  by  those  less 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  257 

praiseworthy,  were  desirous  of  spending  a  few  weeks 
in  the  Army  with  the  hope  of  rendering  aid  to  the 
suffering  soldier.  Many  of  these  persons  were  such, 
as  by  previous  training  and  habit,  were  wholly  unfit 
for  any  relief  service  whatever,  and  all  of  them  were 
so  fettered  by  the  claims  of  their  ordinary  duties  at 
home,  that  they  were  unable  to  remain  long  enough  in 
the  Army  to  acquire  that  familiarity  with  its  system 
and  life  which  would  have  made  them  really  useful. 
The  practice  of  the  Commission  was  wholly  opposed  to 
any  such  irregular  and  irresponsible  method  of  labor. 
It  was  satisfied  that  the  work  it  had  to  perform  was  of 
such  peculiar  novelty  and  difficulty,  that  it  required 
for  its  faithful  execution  not  only  men  of  the  highest 
character  for  intelligence  and  zeal,  but  that  it  involved 
the  necessity  also  of  a  thorough  course  of  training. 
No  one  was  ever  placed  in  the  responsible  position  of 
a  Field  Relief  Agent  until  he  had  received  some  in 
struction,  and  acquired  some  experience  in  a  subordi 
nate  post.  It  was  understood  also,  that  those  who  en 
tered  the  Commission's  service  should  engage  to  remain 
in  it  for  a  lengthened  definite  period.  The  Agents 
were  all  instructed  before  they  entered  on  their  duties, 
in  a  knowledge  of  the  general  principles  of  Army 
organization,  in  the  special  functions  of  its  different 
departments,  in  the  usages  of  Army  life,  and  in  the 
peculiar  relations  which  the  Commission,  bore  to  the 
Military  Authorities.  Until  they  showed  some  profi 
ciency  in  such  matters  they  were  never  placed  in  posi 
tions  in  which  their  ignorance  could  compromise  the 
reputation  of  the  Commission,  or  embarrass  the  disci 
pline  of  the  Army.  As  they  gained  experience,  or 


33 


258  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

showed  peculiar  aptitude  for  their  new  duties,  they 
were  promoted  from  subordinate  posts,  and  invested 
with  larger  responsibilities.  Thus  the  Commission 
had  always  at  its  command  a  body  of  well  trained  and 
experienced  men,  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
its  work,  and  competent  faithfully  to  perform  it. 

As  a  means  of  attaching  permanently  to  its  service, 
such  a  body  of  capable  Agents,  a  moderate  compensa- 
system  of  paid  ti°n  was  paid  to  all  of  them.  It  would 
Agents,  hardly  seem  necessary  to  say  one  word  upon 

the  superior  effectiveness,  and  greater  real  cheapness 
of  paid  labor  in  the  kind  of  work  in  which  the  Com 
mission  was  engaged  during  the  war,  had  not  its  policy 
in  this  matter  been  not  only  questioned,  but  vehe 
mently  assailed  by  many  well-meaning  persons. 
Nothing  could  well  be  more  lofty,  than  the  scorn  which 
was  so  often  expressed  during  the  war  for  those  who 
would  consent  to  receive  money  for  their  services  in 
such  a  mission  of  mercy  as  this,  but  the  Commission 
felt  at  the  outset,  and  experience  soon  confirmed  it  in 
its  opinion,  that  it  had  entered  upon  a  work  altogether 
too  full  of  toil,  drudgery,  and  repulsive  reality,  to  be 
upheld  by  any  mere  sentimental  pity  or  sympathy  for 
the  poor  soldier.  Its  object  was  to  help  the  suffering  by 
the  best  practical  methods  it  could  discover,  not  to  give 
an  opportunity  for  sympathizing  friends  at  home,  to 
relieve  their  overburdened  hearts,  by  spending  a  few 
weeks  in  the  Army  Hospitals  in  busy  yet  fruitless  at 
tempts  to  aid  him.  The  work  of  relieving  the  soldier 
was  found  in  practice  to  be  a  very  hard,  continuous 
and  prosaic  one.  The  best  mode  of  doing  it  was  not 
learned  by  inspiration,  but  was  to  be  acquired  only  by 


DISTRIBUTION   OF    SUPPLIES.  259 


patient  and  long-continued  watchfulness  and  labor. 
man  was  fit  for  it  who  was  not  moved  to  undertake  it 
by  a  principle  of  duty,  but  it  was  a  novel  idea  that  that 
duty  was  less  conscientiously  performed,  and  its  lofty 
nature  degraded  by  those  who  received  compensation  for 
their  services.  The  great  object  which  the  Commission 
had  in  view  of  course,  was  to  secure  the  best  services  of 
the  best  men.  The  whole  practice  of  the  military 
service  as  well  as  that  of  every  association  or  individual 
having  w^ork  to  do,  and  needing  the  help  of  Agents  to 
do  it,  was  opposed  to  the  assumption  that  any  man's  zeal 
and  devotion  in  the  performance  of  any  duty  is  un 
favorably  affected  by  his  receiving  a  salary.  Why  the 
rule  heretofore  universally  recognized  that  paid 
services  have  always  been  more  steady,  regular  and 
abundant  in  results  than  those  of  mere  volunteers 
should  be  reversed  in  the  matter  of  Army  relief,  it  is 
difficult  to  say. 

One  of  the  great  advantages  which  this  system  pre 
sented,  was  that  it  maintained  discipline  and  proper 
ideas  of  subordination  in  the  service.  The  Discipline  of  the 
Commission  knew  exactly  how  much  it  should  corps, 
attempt,  because  it  knew  accurately  its  means  of  doing 
it.  Its  unfortunate  experience  in  the  transport  service 
of  the  Peninsular  Campaign  with  volunteer  nurses 
and  assistants,  has  been  already  spoken  of.  The  fail 
ure  of  that  experiment  confirmed  its  Managers  in  their 
determination  never  again,  in  the  ordinary  adminis 
tration  of  their  work,  to  trust  to  the  services  of  any 
man  whom  they  could  not  at  all  times  rightfully  com 
mand.  A  single  exception  to  this  rule  was  made  in 
the  case  of  the  great  emergencies  of  battle-fields.  At 


260  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

such  times  the  demand  upon  the  Commission  for  sup 
plies  was  so  great,  that  it  was  found  impossible  to  meet 
it  with  the  limited  number  of  its  permanent  Agents  at 
tached  to  the  Army,  and  in  such  cases,  temporary  vol 
unteer  aid  was  sought  for,  on  the  principle,  that  on  the 
whole,  it  was  better  in  relieving  the  wants  of  such  an 
exceptional  condition,  to  employ  inexperienced  hands 
than  none  at  all. 

Of  all  the  conditions  of  human  suffering  experience 
has  shown  that  that  which  occurs  after  great  battles,  is 
Battie-fieid  re-  tne  most  difficult  adequately  to  provide  for. 
lief,  This  is  inevitable,  not  merely  because  the 

number  to  be  cared  for  is  ordinarily  great  and  their 
wants  pressing,  but  because  battles  are  often  fought  at 
a  distance  from  the  base  of  supplies,  because  the 
means  of  transporting  such  articles  as  are  needed  by 
the  Surgeons  are  generally  taken  up  with  sending 
forward  food  and  ammunition,  and  because  it  is  im 
possible  to  maintain  in  the  normal  organization  of  an 
Army  such  a  system  as  will  fully  meet  the  needs  of  a 
general  engagement  which  even,  in  active  campaigns 
is  an  occasional  exigency  only.  During  the  war  of 
the  Rebellion  there  occurred  more  than  six  hundred 
conflicts  between  the  hostile  forces.  Many  of  these 
were  serious  battles  or  bloody  skirmishes,  but  compara 
tively  few  of  them  rise  in  dignity  to  what  are  known 
distinctively  in  history  as  "great  battles."  These 
struggles  of  giants  with  more  than  one  hundred  thou 
sand  men  on  each  side  are,  fortunately  for  humanity, 
as  rare  in  their  occurrence  as  they  are  decisive  in  their 
results,  not  only  of  the  campaign  but  of  the  whole 
contest.  When  these  great  battles  do  occur,  however 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  261 

leaving  their  tens  of  thousands  of  wounded  on  the 
field,  no  Government  system  however  provident,  no 
official  machinery  however  elastic,  and  no  popular 
sympathy  however  burning  with  zeal  or  abundant  in 
its  resources,  can  do  much  more  than  mitigate  the  in 
evitable  horrors  attendant  upon  them.  Owing  to  the 
general  advance  of  Christian  civilization,  however,  the 
battle-field  has  now  become  something  more  than  a  spot 
where  humanity  shudders  at  a  consciousness  of  its 
own  helplessness,  as  it  witnesses  the  terrible  suffering, 
it  is  powerless  alike  to  prevent  or  relieve.  It  was  one 
of  the  glories  of  the  late  war,  that  numerous  as  were 
its  battle-fields,  and  immense  as  were  the  difficulties  of 
fully  relieving  the  wants  of  their  victims,  public 
opinion  not  only  always  insisted  that  the  Government 
should  maintain  a  high  standard  in  its  care  of  the 
wounded,  but  the  people  themselves  were  ever  ready 
and  anxious,  by  the  offer  of  personal  services  and 
voluntary  gifts,  to  assist  in  this  humane  service.  This 
was  the  universal  feeling  and  practice  from  the  earliest 
period  of  the  war,  and  although  popular  zeal  may,  at 
times  have  been  indiscreet,  experience  gave  it  method, 
and  immense  practical  efficiency  and  value.  It  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  standard  of  comfort  for  those 
wounded  in  battle  is  necessarily  very  much  lower  than 
that  maintained  in  long-established  military  Hospitals. 
Much  of  the  misery  which  ensues  on  such  occasions 
is,  in  the  nature  of  things,  inevitable,  and  the  relief  of 
this  misery  can  be  relative  only.  If,  indeed,  the  relief 
afforded  by  the  Government  and  by  all  popular  volun 
tary  contributions,  and  the  value  of  personal  services 
rendered  at  such  times  had  been  tenfold  greater  than 


262          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

it  really  was,  the  condition  of  the  wounded  would  still 
have  been  one  of  terrible  privation  and  agony.  Into 
this  unpromising  field  nevertheless,  the  warm  current 
of  popular  sympathy  was  constantly  turned  during 
the  war.  What  results  followed  in  that  portion  of 
this  field  under  the  charge  of  the  Sanitary  Commission, 
it  is  for  us  to  tell. 

The  first  campaign  in  which  its  system  of  battle 
field  relief  was  methodized,  and  assumed  the  form 
The  battle  of  which  it  retained  during  the  war,  was  that  in 
Antietam,  Northern  Virginia  and  Maryland  which 
terminated  in  the  great  battle  of  ANTIETAM.  There 
was  probably  no  campaign  throughout  the  war  which 
was  conducted  under  greater  disadvantages  in  respect 
of  supplies  of  all  kinds.  The  Army  with  which  the 
campaign  opened  under  General  Pope  had  been  driven 
back  defeated  on  Centreville,  with  immense  loss  of 
men  and  material.  It  was  reinforced  by  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  which  had  been  sent  to  its  assistance,  in 
all  haste,  from  the  Peninsula.  Thus  united,  several 
sanguinary  battles  were  fought,  which  did  not  result  in 
victory  to  the  Union  arms,  and  which  had  the  effect, 
not  only  of  disorganizing  the  Army,  and  demoralizing 
the  men,  but,  to  a  very  considerable  extent  of  exhaust 
ing  its  supplies  also.  Washington  the  great  base,  it 
is  true,  was  near,  but  owing  to  the  confusion  arising 
from  a  series  of  unsuccessful  battles,  and  a  change  in 
the  command  of  the  Army,  a  very  inadequate  supply 
of  stores  reached  it.  A  large  portion  of  those  sent 
forward,  including  forty  wagon  loads  of  medical  sup 
plies,  was  captured  by  the  enemy,  and  for  some  days 
the  utmost  anxiety  and  alarm  prevailed  in  Washing- 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   SUPPLIES.  263 

ton  lest  the  means  of  providing  that  Army,  upon 
whose  success  the  fate  of  the  nation  depended  with 
food  and  ammunition  should  fail.  The  enemy  having 
withdrawn  from  the  neighborhood  of  Washington  with 
the  design  of  invading  the  Northern  states,  the  Union 
army  passed  through  that  city  into  Maryland.  These 
events  occurred  within  a  period  of  a  few  days,  and  it 
was  necessary  that  the  Army  should  move  with 
the  utmost  expedition,  in  order  to  oppose  the  advance 
of  the  rebels  north  of  the  Potomac.  Its  supply 
trains  were,  of  course,  replenished  in  passing  through 
Washington,  but  the  loss  and  destruction  of  wagons 
and  horses  during  the  brief  campaign  in  Northern 
Virginia,  had  been  so  great,  that  its  disposable  means 
of  transportation  were  very  limited,  and  there  was  no 
time  to  replace  the  loss  which  had  been  sustained. 
The  railroad  bridge  over  the  Monocacy  River  also  had 
been  destroyed,  so  that  the  Army  was  deprived,  at  least 
temporarily,  of  the  great  channel  by  which  its  supplies 
might  have  been  rapidly  forwarded.  Thus,  from  a  com 
bination  of  causes,  not  often  occurring  together, — the 
immense  losses  and  terrible  exhaustion  of  a  week  of 
battles,  the  consequent  confusion  and  disorganization, 
and  the  impossibility  of  providing  adequate  means  of 
transportation  for  the  most  necessary  supplies,  the 
Army  which  fought  at  Antietam  was  placed  in  the 
worst  possible  condition  so  far  as  its  ability  to  care 
properly  for  its  wounded  was  concerned. 

The  result  was  precisely  what  might  have  been  con 
fidently  anticipated.  The  battle  was  fought  on  the  17th 
of  September,  1862,  and  resulted  in  leaving  Suffering  of  the 

'    wonnded   for 

on    our    hands     nearly   ten    thousand    ot  •  want  of  supplies. 


264  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

our  own  wounded,  besides  a  very  large  number  of  the 
enemy,  abandoned  by  his  defeated  and  retreating  army. 
Hospital  accommodation  of  the  rudest  form  could  not 
be   provided   for   any  considerable   number   of  these 
sufferers,  and  after  every  house,  and  barn,  and  church, 
and  building,  for  miles  around  had  been  appropriated 
for  the  use  of  the  wounded,  many  remained  shelterless 
in   the   woods   and   fields,   for   want   of  tents.      The 
number  of   Surgeons  was  wholly  insufficient  for  the 
demands  upon  them,  and  until  they  were  reinforced  by 
Medical  men  in  civil  life,  who  came  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  and  volunteered  their  services,  the  condi 
tion   of  the  wounded  whose  first  wants  had  not,  in 
many  cases,  been  attended  to  for  days  after  the  battle, 
was   most  distressing.     The  supplies  of  the  Medical 
Authorities  were  not  one  tenth  of  what  was  absolutely 
needed.      A  large   stock   had    been   accumulated    in 
Baltimore,  ready  to  be  despatched  to  the  battle-field. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Medical  Authori 
ties  had  no  independent  means  of  transportation,  but 
were  forced  to  rely  on  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
for  the  performance  of  that  essential  part  of  its  service. 
That  Department,  charged  with  the  responsibility,  not 
merely  of  sending  means  of  succor  to  the  wounded,  but 
also  of  supplying  the  Army  with  everything  it  needed  in 
the  way  of  food,  clothing  and  ammunition,  naturally 
considered  it  more  important  to  provide  for  the  wants 
of  those  who  were  still  able  to  fight,  than  for  those  who 
had   been   placed   hors-du-combat.      In  this  way,    the 
supplies  which  had  been  accumulated  by  the  Surgeon- 
General    were  delayed,  and  even  the  small   portion 
•vhich  was  sent  forward  did  not  reach  the  battle-field 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  265 

for  many  days,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  bridge 
over  the  Monocacy.  The  serious  injury  resulting 
from  these,  perhaps  unavoidable,  delays  can  be  esti 
mated  when  it  is  remembered  that  on  such  occasions, 
the  first  two  days  are  more  important  than  the  next 
ten,  to  the  saving  of  life  and  relief  of  misery.* 

The  Commission  was  perfectly  aware  of  all  the  cir 
cumstances  in  this  campaign  which  would  call  for  its 
utmost  exertions,  and  it  employed  all  its  re-  Preparations  of 

the  Commission 

sources  in  preparing  tor  the  emergency.  It  for  this  battle, 
was  foreseen,  that  the  grand  difficulty  on  the  part  of  the 
Government  in  promptly  succoring  the  wounded,  would 
be  a  deficiency  in  the  means  of  transportation.  The 
Commission  determined,  therefore,  wisely,  to  place  all  its 
supplies  in  its  own  wagons,  in  charge  of  its  own  Agents, 
who  should  move  with  the  Army  during  this  campaign. 
Two  large  wagons,  each  accompanied  by  an  Inspector, 
were  kept  constantly  well  up  to  the  "  front,"  and  distri 
bution  of  stores  was  made  on  the  march,  whenever 
needed.  When  these  stores  became  exhausted  they  were 
replenished  from  other  wagons  following  in  the  rear. 
In  anticipation  of  the  battle,  a  wagon-train  laden  with 
suitable  supplies  was  despatched  every  day,  from  Wash 
ington  to  the  Army,  during  this  brief  campaign,  so  that 

*  It  is  a  curious  fact  as  illustrating  the  extremely  limited  amount  of  supplies, 
with  which  every  department  of  the  Army  which  fought  at  Antietam,  was  pro 
vided,  that  there  was  serious  cause  of  alarm  during  the  battle,  lest  the  ammu 
nition  should  become  exhausted.  Information  of  this  state  of  affairs  was  at 
once  sent  to  Washington,  and  in  consequence,  a  train  of  cars  laden  with  ord 
nance  stores  was  forthwith  dispatched  from  Baltimore  to  Hagerstown  via  Harris- 
burg  and  the  Cumberland  Valley  Railroad,  making  the  trip  of  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  less  than  three  hours.  If  the  same  energy  had 
been  shown  in  sending  forward  relief  for  the  wounded  how  many  noble  and 
precious  lives  would  have  been  saved  at  Antietam  ! 
34 


266  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

after  the  battle  occurred,  relays  of  these  trains  arrived 
at  intervals,  during  several  succeeding  days  at  Head 
quarters.  In  this  way  the  Commission  was  enabled 
to  supply  at  once  the  first  wants  of  the  wounded,  and 
by  Friday,  the  19th  of  September,  it  provided  abun 
dantly  for  the  most  pressing  necessities  of  the  thousands 
who  were  imploring  succor.  During  all  this  time,  and 
for  nearly  two  days  afterwards,  that  is  to  say,  during 
four  days  after  the  battle,  the  Medical  Director  received 
no  supplies.  They  were  stored  in  abundance  in  the  cars 
near  the  broken  bridge  over  the  Monocacy,  and  on  the 
railroad  between  that  point  and  Baltimore,  but  they 
could  not  be  got  forward  by  the  ordinary  means  of 
Government  transportation.  What  the  condition  of 
the  wounded  at  Antietam  would  have  been,  without 
the  timely  succor  furnished  by  the  Sanitary  Commis 
sion  and  other  volunteer  organizations,  it  is  horrible 
to  imagine.  Chloroform,  opiates,  instruments,  bed-pans, 
everything,  in  fact,  required  for  the  treatment  of  the 
wounded,  was  wanting.  Had  there  been  no  voluntary 
supplemental  supplies  these  sufferers  would  have  been 
forced  to  depend  wholly  for  food  upon  the  coarse 
rations  furnished  by  the  Commissary,  and  for  clothing 
and  shelter  upon  such  means  as  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  recently  plundered  by  the  Rebels,  could  pro 
vide.  Within  a  week  after  the  battle  of  Antietam 
there  were  dispatched  to  that  field  by  the  Sanitary 
Commission  and  distributed  by  its  Agents,  the  follow 
ing  articles : 

"  Twenty-eight  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  pieces  of  dry-goods,  shirts,  towels,  bed-ticks, 
pillows,  &c. ;  thirty  barrels  of  old  linen  bandages  and 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  267 

lint ;  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
pounds  farina ;  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  condensed  milk;  five  thousand  pounds  beef 
stock  and  canned  meats  ;  three  thousand  bottles  wine 
and  cordials,  and  several  tons  of  lemons  and  other 
fruit,  crackers,  tea,  sugar,  rubber  cloth,  tin  cups,  and 
hospital  conveniences." 

In  addition  to  these  issues,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
the  Commission  succeeded  in  transporting  from  the 
Medical  Purveyor's  office  in  New  York  to  Transportation 
the  Government  depdt  at  Frederick,  four  ^ernf"e0m 
thousand  sets  of  hospital  clothing,  and  one  New  York, 
hundred  and  twenty  bales  of  blankets.  It  is  cer 
tainly  a  circumstance  well  worthy  of  consideration,  as 
showing  how  the  theory  of  the  ability  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  always  fully  to  provide  for  the  wants  of 
the  soldier,  will  sometimes  break  down,  that  the 
Commission  succeeded  on  this  occasion  through  the 
energy  and  determination  of  its  special  Agents,  in 
overcoming  the  difficulties  and  delays  which  had  beset 
the  transportation  even  of  Government  Medical 
stores  by  the  ordinary  channels.  Perhaps  the  great 
ness  of  the  emergency  may  justify  the  Commis 
sion  in  this  single  instance  of  departure  from  its 
ordinary  policy  of  non-interference  with  Government 
plans. 

The  wonderful  success  of  the  Commission's  methods 
of  succoring  the  wounded  at  Antietam,  was  due,  not 
merely  to  the  wise  and  comprehensive  sys-  success  of  the 
tern  of  relief  which  it  adopted,  but  also  to  Jj^i'-JS 
the  extraordinary  fidelity,  energy  and  intel-  after  this  battle. 
ligence  exhibited  by  the  Agents  employed  in  their 


268  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

execution.  The  Board  was  holding  its  regular  session 
at  Washington,  during  the  progress  of  the  campaign, 
and  its  presence  and  example  inspired  all  its  officers 
with  a  spirit  of  renewed  activity  and  devotion.  Dr. 
C.  R.  Agnew,  one  of  the  Commissioners,  accompanied 
the  Army  on  its  march,  superintended  the  movement 
of  its  wagon-train  and  the  distribution  of  its  stores. 
For  more  than  a  week  he  was  constantly  in  the 
advance,  in  close  communication  with  the  Medical 
Director,  having  the  best  opportunity  of  knowing  the 
relative  wants  and  necessities  of  the  wounded,  and 
the  blessed  power,  for  several  days,  of  fully  minis 
tering  to  them.  The  subordinate  Agents  rivalled 
each  other  in  the  unflagging  zeal  they  displayed, 
and  in  the  cheerfulness  with  which  they  bore  un 
ceasing  toil  and  privation,  in  carrying  out  the  details 
of  this  humane  and  merciful  service. 

One  there  was  who  died  a  martyr  to  his  devotion 
for  the  relief  of  the  suffering  on  that  field,  whose 
wmiam  piatt,  name  and  services  deserve  commemora 
tion,  for  he  was  one  of  the  true  heroes  of 
the  war.  WILLIAM  PLATT,  Jr.,  at  that  time  super 
intendent  of  the  Philadelphia  Agency  of  the  Com 
mission,  had  gone  to  Washington,  in  the  early 
part  of  September  with  a  view  of  arranging  plans 
for  the  more  rapid  transmission  of  the  supplies 
in  the  Philadelphia  storehouse  to  the  point  where 
all  felt  that  the  great  conflict  was  impending.  On 
his  arrival  there,  he  found  every  one  busy,  pack 
ing  and  forwarding  stores  to  the  army.  Inspired 
with  an  earnest  wish  to  occupy  that  post  where 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  269 

he  could  render  the  greatest  service,  he  volunteered 
to  take  charge  of  one  of  the  wagon  trains,  which  the 
Commission  was  about  despatching  to  "the  front." 
He  hastened  forward  with  the  utmost  expedition,  and 
reaching  Middletown  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night  on  the 
17th  of  September,  the  day  of  the  battle,  he  pursued 
his  journey  during  the  whole  night,  quickening  his 
speed  as  he  came  within  the  sound  of  the  cannon,  lead 
ing  the  way  with  a  lantern  in  his  hand,  and  compelling 
the  reluctant  drivers  to  follow.  He  reached  the  Head 
quarters  of  the  Army  at  nine  o'clock  the  next  morn 
ing,  when  the  stores  he  had  brought,  the  first  and  for 
nearly  two  days  the  only  ones,  which  reached  the  Army, 
were  distributed,  to  the  inexpressible  relief  of  the 
suffering.  But  his  labors  did  not  end  here.  As  the 
wounded  were  brought  in  in  the  ambulances,  he  car 
ried  many  of  them  in  his  arms  to  the  Hospital,  and 
performed  for  them  all  the  gentlest  offices  of  a  nurse. 
Thus  employed  he  overtasked  his  strength,  and  con 
tracted  a  disease  which  soon  brought  his  short  but  well 
spent  life  to  a  close.  The  Sanitary  Commission  has  its 
roll  of  martyrs, — as  what  noble  cause  has  not  ? — men 
who  have  sealed  with  their  blood  their  belief  that  there 
are  many  things  in  this  world  more  valuable  than 
mere  life,  yet,  there  is  no  one  of  those  who  "laid  down 
their  lives  for  their  brethren,"  whose  memory  is  held  in 
more  grateful  and  loving  reverence  than  that  of  this 
modest  yet  earnest  gentleman,  this  pure-minded  and 
faithful  Christian,  this  ardent  and  steadfast  lover 
of  his  country.  He  died,  as  he  himself  would  have 
chosen,  at  the  post  of  duty  in  the  highest  service  of 
humanity. 


270  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  battle  of  Perryville  in  Kentucky,  which  oc 
curred  shortly  after  that  of  Antietam,  furnished,  if 
The  battle  of  possible,  a  still  stronger  illustration  of  the 

Perryville, 


neglected  after  great  battles,  not  through  any  fault  of 
the  Surgeons,  but  because  the  Medical  Department  had 
no  control  whatever  over  the  means  of  transporting  the 
supplies  necessary  to  relieve  them.     The  want  of  inde 
pendent  means  of  transportation  continued  to  embar 
rass  the   action   of  the  Medical   Officers  in  the  field 
throughout  the  war.     The  aggravated  suffering  which 
was   due  to  an    absence   of  this   provision    caused  a 
constant    appeal    to    the   Commission    as    the   great 
Agent  of  relief,  and  required  a  corresponding  increase 
of  its  resources.     Owing  to  the  necessity  of   limiting 
as  much  as  possible  the  transportation  of  any  stores 
which  could   impede  the  rapid  march  of  the    Army 
which    fought    at   Perryville,    an   order    was    issued 
by  the   General  commanding,  forbidding  even   Regi 
mental   Surgeons   to   carry  medical   supplies.      Such 
an  order  may  have  been  justified  by  military  necessity, 
but  its  consequences  were  none  the  less  shocking  to 
humanity.     The  battle  at  Perryville  left  nearly  twenty- 
five  hundred  of  our  men  wounded  upon  our  hands. 
The  Surgeons  were  destitute,  of  course,  of  almost  every 
thing  which  could  minister  to  their  relief,  and  the  sup 
plies  which  had  been  forwarded  by  the  Medical  Direc 
tor  at  Louisville,  only  eighty  miles  distant,  did  not, 
for  some  reason,  reach  Perryville  until  several  weeks 
after  the  battle.     But  the  Commission  did  not  allow  its 
operations  to  be  embarrassed  by  any  such  obstacles. 
On  the  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  battle  at  Louisville, 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   SUPPLIES.  271 

Dr.  Read,  the  Inspector  in  charge,  borrowed  from  the 
Medical  Director  three  large  army  wagons  and  twenty- 
one  ambulances,  and  loading  them  with  stores  from 
the  depot  in  that  city,  proceeded  forthwith  to  the 
battle-field.  The  condition  of  things  when  he  reached 
there  was  deplorable  in  the  extreme.  It  was  the  same 
sad  story  of  agony  and  misery  resulting  from  the 
casualties  of  war,  not  even  mitigated  by  the  com 
monest  modes  of  relief,  and  intensified,  if  possible,  by 
the  utter  want  of  Hospital  accommodation.  What 
could  be  done,  of  course,  was  done.  The  resources  of 
the  Commission  were  abundantly  poured  out,  but  great 
as  they  were,  they  could  make  but  a  small  impression 
upon  such  a  mass  of  suffering.  It  was  a  burning  dis 
grace  to  the  country,  and  to  the  administration  of  the 
military  service,  that  the  lives  of  men  who  had  fallen 
in  defending  the  National  cause,  and  who  were  lying 
in  their  agony  within  eighty  miles  of  the  great  mili 
tary  depot  of  the  West,  should  be  confided  for  weeks 
to  the  care  of  a  mere  voluntary,  benevolent  organi 
zation. 

The  fearful  suffering  on  battle-fields,  preventible  as  it 
seemed  to  the  Commission,  by  the  adoption  on  the  part 
of  the  Government  of  very  simple  means  independent 
of  succor  was  a  subject  which  commanded  J;ransP°rtation 

for  medical  snp- 

the  anxious  attention  of  its  members  during  plies, 
the  whole  war.  It  made  constant  efforts  to  secure  the 
great  desideratum,  the  control  by  the  Medical  Authori 
ties  of  independent  means  of  transportation.  These 
efforts  proved  unavailing,  for  reasons  deemed  satisfac 
tory  by  those  at  the  head  of  the  military  service. 
These  reasons  were  based  upon  the  theory  that  every- 


272  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

thing  in  an  Army  must  be  subordinated  to  its  capacity 
to  fight  battles,  and  as  that  capacity  was  reduced 
by  whatever  impeded  its  rapid  march,  and  by  any 
division  of  authority  in  the  matter  of  forwarding 
supplies,  the  neglect  of  the  wounded,  which  it  was  ad 
mitted  resulted  from  existing  arrangements,  must  be 
accepted  as  one  of  the  inevitable  evils  of  a  state  of 
war.  No  argument,  founded  on  considerations  of  hu 
manity  could  induce  the  military  authorities  to  change 
the  system,  and  consequently  all  that  was  left  for  the 
Commission  to  do  was  to  attempt  to  mitigate  the  evils 
which  it  never  ceased  to  deplore,  but  which  it  was 
wholly  powerless  to  remove. 

The  systematic  method  which  was  characteristic  of 
the  Commission's  work  in  its  other  forms  of  relief, 
Auxiliary  Belief  was>  as  we  nave  seen>  somewhat  necessarily 
corps,  relaxed  when  it  was  called  upon  to  afford 

succor  to  the  wounded  after  great  battles.  Still  the 
ignorance  of  Army  regulations  and  usages  on  the  part 
of  that  portion  of  their  corps  of  Agents,  who  coming 
fresh  from  civil  life,  had  volunteered  their  services  for 
the  emergency,  the  misdirected  zeal  of  some,  and  the 
carelessness  and  inefficiency  of  others,  all  causing  a 
waste  of  labor  and  of  stores,  led  it  to  seek  for  some 
means  by  which  its  invaluable  services  could  be  be 
stowed  in  a  more  systematic  and  therefore  more  effective 
manner.  After  the  question  had  been  much  discussed, 
and  all  the  light  which  could  be  borrowed  from  nearly 
three  years'  experience  in  this  peculiar  work  had  been 
shed  upon  it,  it  was  decided  to  introduce  a  more  orderly 
system  into  the  Commission's  work  even  amidst  the 
confusion  of  the  battle-field.  With  the  view  of  trying 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   SUPPLIES.  273 

this  experiment,  a  corps  was  organized,  in  anticipation 
of  the  campaign  upon  which  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
entered,  in  May,  1864,  which  should  be  charged 
specially  with  battle-field  relief  during  that  campaign. 
This  corps  was  called  the  AUXILIARY  RELIEF  CORPS. 
The  design  was  that  the  new  organization  should  not 
interfere  in  any  way  with  the  functions  of  the  Field 
Relief  Corps  of  the  Commission,  whose  duty,  as  we 
have  stated,  was  to  accompany  the  Army  on  its  march 
and  supply  its  ordinary  and  current  necessities.  That 
work  was  to  be  continued  in  all  its  vigor  at  the  "  front," 
while  the  new  corps  was  to  look  after  the  wants  of  the 
wounded  sent  to  the  Hospitals  after  an  engagement, 
and  left  behind  by  the  Army  on  its  onward  march. 
The  expediency  of  organizing  such  a  corps  for  such  a 
service  had  been  suggested  by  Mr.  FRANK  B.  FAY,  of 
Chelsea,  Massachusetts,  who  had  had  during  the  war 
much  personal  experience  in  Army  relief  as  an  indepen 
dent  worker.  He  was  accordingly  placed  at  its  head, 
and  proceeded  at  once  to  organize  it.  Fifty  agents  were 
first  selected,  most  of  them  young  men,  principally  theo 
logical  students.  It  was  agreed  that  they  should  enter 
the  Commission's  service  for  at  least  four  months,  and 
bind  themselves  to  observe  its  rules  and  discipline. 

The  great  object  in  view  was  to  secure  personal 
ministrations  to  the  wounded  by  chosen  men  who 
should  be  responsible  members  of  an  organ-  Peculiar  duties 
ization  directed  by  those  who  were  familiar  of  this  CorPs- 
by  experience  with  the  regulations  of  the  Army,  and 
the  needs  of  the  suffering.  They  were  to  be  relied 
upon, in  strict  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the  Superin 
tendent,  to  meet  the  wounded  as  they  were  carried  in 

35 


274  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

ambulances  from  the  field,  and  see  that  they  were  pro 
vided  with  proper  food  and  stimulants ;  they  were  to 
assist,  when  called  upon,  in  conveying  them  to  the 
Hospitals,  to  wash  and  cleanse  them  when  necessary, 
and  to  provide  them  with  fresh  clothing.  If  it  hap 
pened,  as  it  often  did,  that  the  buildings  which  were 
occupied  as  Hospitals  required  a  thorough  renovation 
and  cleansing,  in  order  that  the  patients  might  be  pro 
perly  treated,  and  their  chance  of  recovery  promoted, 
they  were  expected  cheerfully  and  promptly  to  under 
take  this  menial  and  scavenger  work.  They  were  to 
give  themselves,  day  and  night,  unreservedly  to  the 
care  of  the  particular  wounded  men  placed  under  their 
charge.  When,  by  these  means,  the  sufferings  of  their 
bodies  had  been  alleviated  as  far  as  practicable,  they 
were  to  give  their  attention  to  their  other  wants.  They 
were  to  write  letters  for  them  to  loved  ones  at  home ; 
they  were  to  supply  them  with  reading  matter  when 
their  condition  permitted  them  to  read ;  they  were  to 
enliven  their  tedious  hours  with  cheerful  conversation 
and  expressions  of  sympathy  ;  they  were  to  minister 
to  the  dying  the  sublime  consolations  of  a  Christian 
faith,  and  they  were  to  perform  for  the  dead  the  decent 
rites  of  a  Christian  burial.  In  short,  these  young  men 
were  expected  to  consecrate  all  their  powers  for  a 
definite  period  to  this  exhausting  labor  of  humanity 
and  mercy.  A  spirit  of  devotion  was  required  of  them, 
not  unlike  that  exhibited  by  those  noble  men  and 
women  who,  bound  by  religious  vows,  have  braved  the 
worst  terrors  of  the  pestilence  in  their  efforts  to  relieve 
the  sufferings  of  their  fellow-creatures.  Instances,  of 
course,  were  not  wanting  of  heroic  self-devotion  and 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  275 

most  arduous  self-imposed  labor,  upon  the  earlier 
battle-fields  of  the  war,  but  in  most  cases  the  service 
was  too  short  to  be  absolutely  exhausting,  and  in  all, 
there  was  the  stimulus  of  uncontrolled  action,  which, 
powerful  as  it  was,  was  wholly  unlike  that  needed  to 
keep  ever  fresh  and  active  a  zeal  for  the  regular,  sys 
tematic,  and  continuous  performance  of  a  service  re 
pulsive  to  every  instinct  save  that  of  humanity  and 
Christian  duty. 

The  Agents  composing  this  Auxiliary  Relief  Corps 
were  gathered  together  in  Washington  in  the  early 
days  of  May,  1864,  and  the  nature  of  their  It  enters  upon 
duties  was  fully  explained  to  them.  They  itsduties- 
were  told  that  their  zeal  and  ardor,  however  impatient, 
must  at  all  times  be  controlled  by  the  orders  of  the  Su 
perintendent,  which  were  based  upon  a  careful  study  of 
the  wants  they  would  be  called  upon  to  relieve,  and  were 
framed  with  the  intention  of  avoiding  all  possible  conflict 
between  the  Commission's  labors,  and  those  of  the  mili 
tary  authorities.  They  also  received  instructions  in 
their  duties  as  nurses,  and  in  general  Hospital  work. 
They  were  then  formed  into  squads  or  companies  of 
six,  each  under  the  charge  of  a  captain,  who  was  re 
sponsible  for  the  work  of  his  particular  company  to 
the  General  Superintendent.  Each  of  these  squads 
was  provided  with  what  was  called  a  "relief  box," 
which  contained  a  limited  supply  of  food  suitable  for 
the  wounded,  and  a  great  variety  of  articles  which 
experience  had  proved  were  not  only  essential  in  sud 
denly  improvised  Hospitals,  but  which  were  most 
difficult  to  procure  when  most  needed. 

The  corps  left  Washington  on  the  receipt  of  the 


276  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

news  of  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  and  its  first 
Work  at  Belie  duty  was  the  establishing  at  Belle  Plain 
"  '  of  Feeding  Stations,  whence  food  could  be 


dispensed  to  the  famishing,  wounded  men,  who  were 
slowly  and  painfully  conveyed  in  ambulances  stretching 
out  in  lines  many  miles  long,  all  moving  towards  the 
water  base  of  the  army.  But  their  services  were  soon 
required  nearer  to  the  "  front."  Walking  to  Frede- 
ricksburg,  ten  miles  distant,  they  found  more  than 
twenty  thousand  wounded  men  crowded  into  that 
place.  These  were  the  worst  cases  which  had  been 
sent  from  the  battle-field,  so  bad  indeed,  that  it  was 
deemed  unsafe  to  transport  them  further.  To  the 
inexperienced  eyes  of  the  members  of  the  Corps,  those 
whom  they  had  met  on  the  shores  of  the  Potomac 
seemed  to  have  reached  the  utmost  verge  of  human 
misery,  but  their  condition  was  positively  comfortable 
compared  with  that  of  those  with  whom  they  were  now 
brought  in  contact.  The  whole  place  was  actually 
encumbered  with  a  mass  of  human  beings,  undergoing 
physical  torture  and  agony  under  every  conceivable 
variety  of  form.  For  days  the  public  buildings,  the 
private  houses,  and  even  the  streets  of  the  town,  were 
filled  with  these  wretched  victims  of  war,  imploring 
food  and  succor. 

By  the  time  the  Corps  reached  Fredericksburg,  its 
numbers  had  increased  to  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Work  at  irede-  persons,  embracing,  besides  its  regular  mem- 
tiaue<Tg  bers,  many  volunteers  who  placed  them 
selves  under  the  orders  of  the  Superintendent.  Mrs. 
General  Barlow,  Miss  Gilson,  and  several  other  ladies 
took  charge  of  the  special  diet  kitchens  of  the  Hos- 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   SUPPLIES.  277 

pitals  and  supplied  the  requisitions  of  the  Relief 
Agents.  As  soon  as  practicable,  each  squad  or  com 
pany  was  assigned  to  a  distinct  Hospital,  and  reported 
for  orders  to  the  Surgeon  in  charge.  As  usual,  the 
arrangements  of  the  Government  for  feeding  and  car 
ing  for  the  suffering  men  were  wholly  inadequate. 
For  some  reason,  which  has  never  been  very  clearly  ex 
plained,  the  authorities  at  Washington  had  supposed 
that  the  wounded  would  have  been  removed  from  the 
battle-field  to  the  Hospitals  in  that  city  by  railroad, 
and  trains  of  cars  had  been  dispatched  from  Alexan 
dria  to  the  Rapidan  River  to  transport  them  thither. 
Instead  of  this  arrangement,  however,  the  wounded 
were  all  poured  into  Fredericksburg,  where,  as  their 
coming  was  unexpected,  no  preparations  had  been  made 
to  receive  them.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  anything 
more  frightful  than  the  confusion  and  destitution 
which  followed.  Many  days  elapsed  before  anything 
like  system  could  be  introduced  into  the  management 
of  affairs. 

There  were  three  things  to  be  observed  in  the  midst 
of  it  all,  which  went  to  prove  how  wise  a  measure  the 
establishment  of  such  a  disciplined  body  by  Peculiar 
the  Commission  as  its  Auxiliary  Relief  fomo/r 
Corps  had  been,  and  how  providential  was  its  inter 
position  just  at  that  particular  juncture.  In  the  first 
place,  the  stores  of  the  Commission,  owing  to  its  pos 
sessing  more  than  forty  four-horse  wagons  were  readilv 
brought  forward  from  Belle  Plain.  Had  these  stores, 
in  the  state  of  utter  destitution  which  then  prevailed, 
been  placed  without  specific  instructions  in  the  hands 
of  irregular,  independent,  and  irresponsible  workers, 


278  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

men  prompted  only  by  an  intense  natural  desire  to 
relieve  the  agony  of  those  immediately  around  them, 
their  distribution  might  have  been  injudicious,  and 
would  certainly  have  been  wasteful.  In  the  second 
place,  owing  to  the  previous  organization  of  the  corps 
into  companies,  it  was  easy  to  assign  each  company  to 
a  distinct  Hospital,  where  it  could  work  effectively,  and 
thoroughly,  and  with  a  definite  purpose.  In  the  third 
place,  it  seemed  that  during  the  whole  war  no  instance 
had  occurred  in  which  the  regular  authorities  so  much 
needed  the  aid  of  a  trained  body  like  this  to  assist 
them  in  their  special  duties,  the  larger  number  of  the 
Surgeons  being,  of  course,  obliged  to  accompany  the 
Army  in  its  onward  march,  and  those  who  were  left 
behind  being  completely  overworked,  and  entirely  un 
provided  with  proper  means  of  relieving  those  under 
their  charge.  The  members  of  the  Corps  worked  in 
perfect  harmony  with  these  Surgeons,  and  carried  out 
faithfully  their  instructions  in  everything  concerning 
the  care  of  the  patients.  They  not  only  performed  all 
the  duties  of  nurses,  but  strove,  in  a  variety  of  ways 
and  under  the  most  discouraging  circumstances,  to 
provide  for  the  comfort  of  the  patients,  acting  as 
Stewards  of  the  Hospitals  and  preparing  their  food  in 
the  special  diet  kitchens.  It  was  not  intended  by  the 
authorities  to  make  Fredericksburg  a  point  for  the 
establishment  of  permanent  Hospitals.  The  vast 
multitude  of  wounded  which  had  accumulated  there 
was  transported  as  soon  as  practicable  to  the  General 
Hospitals  at  the  North.  The  Auxiliary  Relief  Corps 
followed  the  water  base  of  the  army  first  to  Port  Royal, 
then  to  White  House,  and  last  to  City  Point.  To  each 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   SUPPLIES.  279 

of  these  places  the  wounded  of  Spottsylvania,  Cold 
Harbor,  and  of  the  battle-fields  in  front  of  Richmond 
and  Petersburg  were  brought,  and  were  cared  for  tem 
porarily  until  they  were  either  sent  to  General  Hospi 
tals,  or  so  far  recovered  from  their  wounds  as  to  be 
able  to  rejoin  their  regiments.  The  peculiar  work  of 
the  corps  was  unceasing,  and  most  beneficent  in  its 
results  at  these  points.  The  intensely  personal  char 
acter  of  its  ministrations,  and  the  actual  contact  of  the 
gifts  of  the  loyal  people  of  the  North  with  the  misery 
they  were  designed  to  relieve,  are  well  described  in  an 
extract  from  a  letter  of  one  of  the  most  active  partici 
pants  in  the  work,  Mr.  Orange  Judd.* 

*  "  These  hands  of  mine  are  hallowed  by  the  hundreds  of  pairs  of  socks,  the 
shirts,  the  drawers,  the  arm-slings,  the  crutches,  the  pillows,  the  ring  cushions, 
the  slippers,  etc.,  etc.,  that  they  have  been  permitted  to  give  to  these  heroes 
during  five  weeks  past.  And  every  hand  that  has  helped  to  make  these  things, 
or  helped  by  work,  or  dimes,  or  dollars,  to  buy  them,  is  a  nobler  hand  therefor. 
I  wish  I  could  give  a  thousandth  part  of  the  items.  I  have  said  nothing  of  the 
tens  of  thousands  of  cups  of  good  coffee,  prepared  with  pure  milk  brought  con 
densed  in  cans,  and  sweetened  with  good  sugar,  of  other  thousands  of  cups  of 
tea,  of  milk-punch  when  stimulants  were  most  needed,  of  farina,  of  beef 
or  chicken  broth,  which  modern  invention  enables  us  to  carry  fresh  to  the  field. 
Imagine  at  least  a  hundred  persons  constantly  preparing  and  bearing  these 
things  to  our  sick  and  wounded  brave  men,  far  from  home  and  home  comforts 
and  care,  and  again  with  me  thank  God  that  it  was  put  into  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  to  work  in  Fairs  and  at  home  for  our  soldiers,  and  that  you  and  I  have 
been  privileged  to  bear  some  part  in  this  noblest  enterprise  of  this  or  any  other 
age.  Shall  I  speak  of  a  single  day's  work  of  my  own  in  illustration  ?  The 
men  had  for  thirty-six  days  been  away  from  their  usual  access  to  sutlers,  or 
other  sources  of  supply.  I  found  a  great  eagerness  for  tobacco  among  those  ac 
customed  to  use  this  narcotic;  the  longing  seemed  to  be  intensified  by  their 
condition.  Yesterday  I  went  around  with  a  basket  on  each  arm,  and  a  haver 
sack  on  my  neck.  A  rough  estimate  of  the  day's  work,  from  the  morning  and 
evening  stock  on  hand,  showed  that  I  had  given  out  writing  paper  and  enve 
lopes  to  about  seven  hundred  men.  Pencils  to  ninety.  A  large  lot  of  news 
papers  sent  direct  to  me  by  Mr.  Felt,  of  Salem,  Mass.  Crutches  to  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty-six  wounded  below  the  knee,  who  were  thus  enabled  to  get  up 


280  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

When  the  armies  operating  before  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  became  stationary,  and  a  siege  of  those 
Work  in  the  places  commenced,  the  same  practice  of 

Hospitals  at  .  . 

City  Point,  transferring  the  sick  and  wounded  from  the 
Field  Hospitals  at  the  "  front"  to  temporary  Hospitals 
at  the  water  base,  which  had  existed  during  the  whole 
campaign,  was  continued.  The  same  personal  minis 
trations  became  therefore  necessary  on  the  part  of  the 
Auxiliary  Relief  Corps  in  the  Hospitals  at  City  Point, 
for  although,  of  course,  these  Hospitals  were  much 
better  supplied  than  those  which  had  been  improvised 
in  the  rear  of  battle-fields,  still  there  seemed,  after  all, 
practically  no  limit  to  the  distance  which  existed  be 
tween  the  standard  of  Government  ideas  of  comfort, 
and  that  which  popular  sympathy  for  the  soldier  was 
anxious  to  maintain.  The  Commission  determined  on 
this,  as  on  all  occasions,  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  im 
prove  the  Government  standard,  striving,  always,  how- 

and  move  about.  Arm-slings  to  one  hundred  and  fifteen  wounded  in  the  arm. 
(Perhaps  you  made  one  of  these,  reader.)  A  piece  of  chewing  tobacco  each 
to  about  three  hundred  and  seventy.  Smoking  tobacco  and  matches  to  about 
four  hundred  and  fifty,  and  pipes  to  seventy-three  who  had  lost  theirs.  (A 
wounded  man  seldom  brings  anything  from  the  field  except  what  is  in  his 
pockets.)  This  is  the  only  day  I  have  attempted  to  keep  an  account  of  the 
work  done.  With  my  outfit  of  baskets,  etc.,  I  looked  like,  and  was  not  inap 
propriately  dubbed  a  "  Yankee  Pedler."  I  doubt  if  any  other  Yankee  Pedler 
ever  did  a  better  business  in  one  day,  or  one  that  paid  a  thousandth  part  as  well. 
The  pleasant  running  conversation  kept  up  all  day  was  cheering,  to  myself,  at 
least,  and  the  "  God  bless  yous"  and  cheerful  "good  mornings"  or  "good  even 
ings,"  responded  from  every  tent  as  I  left  it,  was  good  pay.  Everywhere  I  met 
others  of  our  "  relief  agents,"  bearing  other  things,  or  bending  over  the  fallen 
men,  dressing  their  wounds,  and  Samaritan-like  "pouring  in  oil  and  wine." 
The  sleep  of  that  night  was  sweetened  by  bearing  out  thirty-eight  nice  warm 
new  blankets  to  as  many  blanketless  men  whom  I  found,  as  I  came  from  a  dis 
tant  part  of  the  camping-ground  at  a  late  hour  in  the  evening.  These  men  had 
been  brought  in  after  dark,  and  had  got  separated  from  the  rest  of  their  train. 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    SUPPLIES.  281 

ever,  not  to  embarrass  that  official  care  upon  which,  it 
well  knew,  the  main  dependence  of  the  soldier  must  after 
all  rest.  It  persevered  in  this  peculiar  method  of  sup 
plemental  aid,  until  the  last  hour  of  that  campaign  which 
the  surrender  of  General  Lee  brought  to  a  close.  It  was, 
on  the  whole,  satisfied  with  the  experiment  which  it 
had  made.  Some  of  its  Agents  might  have  been  more 
earnest  and  active,  a  more  thorough  discipline  might, 
perhaps,  have  lessened  the  immense  issue  of  supplies 
without  affecting,  unfavorably,  the  real  benefit  derived 
from  their  distribution,  but  still  imperfect  as  the  sys 
tem  was,  it  was  clear  that  it  had  done  a  work  of  bene 
ficence  of  untold  value  to  the  sixty  thousand  wounded 
of  the  Wilderness  campaign,  a  work  which  it  did  not 
seem  possible  to  have  accomplished  in  any  other 
way. 

The  fidelity  and  devotion  of  nearly  all  its  members 
to  their  duty  under  circumstances  of  extraordinary 
privation  and  exposure,  and  the  sacrifice  of  Fidelity  and  de- 
the  lives  of  several  of  them,  caused  by  ex-  ^frf  ^ 
hausting  service  in  a  malarious  region,  have  corPs- 
made  the  history  of  this  Corps  more  illustrious  in 
many  respects  than  that  of  any  body  of  men  connected 
with  the  service  of  the  Commission.  During  the 
summer  of  1864  no  less  than  four  persons,  members 
of  this  Auxiliary  Corps,  sealed  their  devotion  to  its 
pure  and  holy  ministry  with  their  lives.  One  of  them, 
WILLIAM  WILSON,  the  youngest,  perhaps,  wmiamWiison, 
of  all  its  members,  a  mere  boy,  had  nevertheless  done 
a  hero's  work  in  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the 
wounded.  He  was  treacherously  shot  while  on  board 
a  steamer  in  the  service  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 


36 


282          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

and  bearing   its  flag,  by  guerillas  concealed   on  the 
shore  of  the  James  River.     He  fell  a  victim  to  that 
barbarous  policy  of  the  enemy,  which  always  refused 
to  recognize  as  entitled  to  immunity  and  protection 
those  who  were  not  only  non-combatants,  but  those 
who  had  always  proved  the  best  friends  of  their  own 
helpless  wounded  when  the  fortunes  of  war  placed 
them  in  our  hands.     Another,  CHARLES  H.  STANLEY, 
Charles  H,  stan-  was  preparing  for  the  service  of  that  Divine 
Master   whose  teachings  have  inspired  us 
with  the  highest  motive  for  all  humane  effort.     Im 
pelled   by    such    motives,   and    in    such    a    service, 
no   fear   of   danger   could    daunt  his    ardor,  and   no 
privation,    or    toil,  or   exposure  were   accounted  ob 
stacles  to  the  full  performance  of  a  high  Christian 
duty.     But,  as  it  often  happens,  the  spirit  of  a  martyr 
and  a  hero  was  enshrined  in  a  weak  and  feeble  body. 
In  his  pure  and  unselfish  zeal,  he  discovered  too  late 
the  limit  of  his  capacity  for  doing  good.     Never  fal 
tering  while  a  feeble  remnant  of  strength  remained, 
Stanley  was  at  last  prostrated  by  a  fever,  induced  by 
his  unremitting  devotion  to  the  wounded,  and  went 
home  to  die  a  Christian's  death,  fit  sequel  to  his  pure 
and  noble  Christian  life. 

There  were  two  others,  the  story  of  whose  lives, 
freely  risked  and  at  last  yielded  up  for  the  sake  of  the 
prof,Hadiey,  soldier,  will  always  serve  to  dignify,  ennoble 
and  exalt  the  history  of  the  labors  of  the  Auxiliary 
Corps.  One  of  these  was  a  man,  and  the  other  a 
woman,  and  they  were  both  the  highest  types  and 
representatives  of  that  extraordinary  combination  of 
intense  love  of  country,  with  a  spirit  of  pure,  unselfish 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    SUPPLIES.  283 

devotion  to  the  needs  of  those  who  were  suffering  in 
its  cause,  which  prevailed  everywhere  during  the  war 
as  the  strongest  and  most  striking  characteristic  of 
popular  feeling.  Professor  Hadley,  Hebrew  Professor 
in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  at  New  York,  a 
Student,  a  man  of  quiet  and  retiring  habits,  utterly 
unpracticed  from  the  nature  of  his  life  and  tastes,  in 
the  toil  and  drudgery  of  personal  ministrations  to  the 
suffering,  nevertheless  thought  it  his  duty  to  devote 
his  time  and  strength  to  this  peculiar  service.  With 
this  intention,  he  went  to  the  James  River  in  June, 
and  enrolled  himself  as  a  member  of  the  Auxiliary 
Relief  Corps.  He  gave  himself  up  to  his  new  duties 
with  all  the  earnestness  and  energy  of  his  nature,  and 
his  feeble  body  not  being  able  to  meet  the  demands 
made  upon  it  by  his  heroic  spirit,  he  soon  sank  into 
an  early  grave.  His  life  was  characterized  while  in 
the  service  of  the  Commission,  by  quiet  but  incessant 
work.  He  never  went  to  the  front  to  gratify  a  curiosity 
so  natural  to  those  who  for  the  first  time  visit  an 
Army  engaged  in  an  active  campaign.  He  toiled  on 
unwearyingly  in  the  sad  Hospital,  for  he  had  come  to 
help  the  helpless,  and  not  to  witness  "  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  of  war."  He  thus  endeared  himself  to 
all  who  had  been  the  objects  of  his  merciful  care. 
When  he  was  borne,  sick  and  dying  to  the  steamer, 
the  greatest  interest  was  manifested  in  his  condition 
by  those  whom  he  had  nursed,  and  who  were  then  con 
valescing.  They  eagerly  inquired  after  the  welfare  of 
the  "  Sanitary  man,"  as  they  called  him,  their  grateful 
hearts  pouring  out  blessings  upon  him  who  had  been 
to  them  the  noblest  type  of  practical  Christian  love 


284  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

and  sympathy.  The  death  of  such  a  man  in  such  a 
cause,  not  only  invests  his  memory  with  peculiar  ten 
derness  and  reverence,  but  it  hallows  and  ennobles  the 
cause,  the  success  of  which  rendered  necessary  so  pre- 
cipus  a  sacrifice. 

The  last  of  this  glorious  band  who  laid  down  their 
lives   for  their  brethren,  was   ARABELLA   GRIFFITH 
Arabella  Qrif-  BARLOW,  whose  life  from  the  very  commence  - 
fith  Barlow,       ment  of  the  W8i^  resembles  more  that  of 
those  holy  women  whom  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
has  canonized  as  Saints  for  their  unshrinking  devotion 
to  the  relief  of  human  suffering  in  its  saddest  and  most 
repulsive  forms,  than  like  that  of  one  reared  among  the 
influences  of  the  hard,  material,  and  artificial  state  of 
society  in  which  we  live.     Mrs.  Barlow  was  the  wife 
of  Major-General   Barlow,  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  heroic  officers  of  the  Army.     They  were  married 
on  the  day  of  his  departure  for  Washington,  whither 
he  went  as  a  private  in  one  of  the  New  York  regi 
ments  in  which  he  had  enlisted.     She  was  a  lady  of 
rare  personal  attractions,  of  highly  cultivated  intellect, 
of  the  best  social  position,  beloved  and  sought  for  by  a 
large  circle  of  friends,  full  of  life,  spirit,  activity  and 
charity.     Her  husband's  extraordinary  merit   led  to 
his  rapid  promotion.     He  went  through  the  Peninsu 
lar  Campaign  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  his  regiment, 
and  his  wife  was  one  of  those  women  who  worked  hard 
and  nobly,  as  close  to  the  terrible  battle-fields  of  that 
campaign  as  they  were  permitted  to  go.     She  again 
appeared  as  an  angel  of  mercy  at  Gettysburg,  where 
her  husband  in  command  of  one  of  the  Divisions  of 
the  Second  (General  Hancock's)   Corps,  added  by  his 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    SUPPLIES.  285 

skill  and  bravery  fresh  laurels  to  those  he  had  so  dearly 
earned.  At  the  commencement  of  the  Wilderness 
campaign,  she  identified  herself,  as  we  have  seen,  with 
the  peculiar  labors  of  the  Auxiliary  Relief  Corps  at 
Fredericksburg,  superintending  the  important  work  of 
preparing  proper  food  for  the  wounded,  in  the  special 
diet  kitchens  established  in  the  Hospitals.  While 
thus  occupied,  she  could  hear  distinctly  the  roar  of  the 
storm  of  battle  in  which  her  husband  was  exposed  to 
extremest  danger,  but  this  served  only  to  stimulate  her 
to  renewed  activity  in  succoring  those  around  her  who 
had  already  fallen  victims  to  its  fury.  Her  mind, 
fruitful  in  resources,  was  always  busy  in  devising  some 
means  of  alleviating  the  miseries  of  the  wounded,  and 
many  a  fractured  limb  rested  on  cushions  improvised 
from  materials,  which  she  alone  was  able  to  discover 
and  make  serviceable.  She  was  the  last  to  leave 
Fredericksburg,  and  passing  to  Port  Royal  and  White 
House,  she  actively  continued  her  beneficent  and  life- 
saving  work  in  the  Hospitals  at  those  places.  Arriv 
ing  at  City  Point,  she  went  at  once  to  "  the  front"  in  the 
lines  before  Petersburg,  and  there  gave  herself  up  to 
incessant  labor  in  the  Hospitals.  This  perpetual  toil 
and  privation  proved,  at  last,  too  much  for  her  strength, 
and  a  fever  was  induced  by  it  which  soon  after  termi 
nated  her  pure  and  noble  life.  Mrs.  Barlow  was  a 
true  heroine,  the  record  of  whose  career  is  that  of  one 
who  sought,  by  personal  service,  to  mitigate  those  hor 
rors  of  war  which  are  appalling,  even  to  the  perfect 
spirit  of  devotion  which  is  so  characteristic  of  her  sex. 
Her  motives  were  the  worthiest  and  the  loftiest  which 
can  stir  the  human  heart,  and  she  appears  at  all  times 


286  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

to  have  been  wholly  unconscious  of  the  promptings  of 
a  spirit  of  self-indulgence,  and  love  of  ease.     With 
this  intense  and  absorbing  desire  to  relieve  the  suffer 
ing  soldier,  she  combined  that  ardent  love  of  the  cause  for 
which  he  was  fighting,  which  sustained  and  cheered  her 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  toilsome  and  forbidding  labors. 
She  and  her  noble  husband  were  true  types  of  the  grand 
est  moral  ideas  which  the  war  developed — a  pure  love  of 
country  combined  with  a  perfect  spirit  of  self-sacrifice. 
"  There  are  many  glories,"  writes  one  who  knew  them 
both  well,  "  of  a  righteous  war.     It  is  glorious  to  fight  or 
to  fall,  to  bleed  or  to  conquer,  for  so  great  and  good  a 
cause  as  ours ;  it  is  glorious  to  go  to  the  field  in  order 
to  help  and  to  heal,  to  fan  the  fevered  soldier  and  to 
comfort  the  bleeding  brother,  and  thus  helping,  may 
be  to  die  with  him  the  death  for  our  country.     Both 
these  glories  were  vouchsafed  to  this  bridal  pair." 


CHAPTER  X. 

SPECIAL  BELIEF  SEEVICE  * 


NOTHING  can  better  illustrate  the  flexibility  of  the 
system  adopted  by  the  Sanitary  Commission  than  the 
history  of  the  rise,  progress,  methods,  and  Nature  of  the 
wonderful  results  of  that  department  of  its 


work  denominated  the  SPECIAL  RELIEF  SERVICE. 
Established  on  the  scientific  basis  that  preventive 
means  were  the  best  general  means  of  curing  the  evils 
which  threatened  the  Army  with  danger,  the  Commis 
sion  did  not  ignore  the  fact,  that  either  before  such 
means  were  generally  adopted,  or  because  they  would 
not  be  constantly  enforced,  a  vast  amount  of  suffering 
would  ensue  which  would  require  methodical  and  large 
measures  of  relief.  The  plans,  therefore,  of  the  Com 
mission  embraced  both  prevention  and  relief.  Its 
chief  attention  was  given  at  the  outset,  as  has  been 
said,  to  the  former,  because  it  was  thought  that  pre 
vention  was  the  best  mode  of  diminishing  the  necessity 
of  relief.  Its  experience,  however,  was  uniform,  that 

*  It  may  be  proper  to  repeat  here  what  has  been  already  stated  in  the  Preface 
that  the  Commission  deems  the  history  of  its  Special  Relief  Service  of  such 
interest  and  value,  that  it  proposes  to  present  it  to  the  public  in  a  distinct  volume 
now  in  the  course  of  preparation  by  Mr.  Frederick  N.  Knapp.  The  following 
chapter  gives  only  such  an  outline  of  its  work  as  will  enable  the  reader 
to  form  a  harmonious  view  of  the  general  system  adopted  by  the 
Commission. 

287 


288  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

notwithstanding   its   strenuous   efforts   to   insure   the 
adoption  of  preventive  measures  and  the  partial  suc 
cess  of  those  efforts,  there  was  always  a  wide  field 
for-  labor  open  throughout  the  war  in  behalf  of  those 
who    were    not    properly  cared   for   by   Government 
methods.     Hence  arose  its  whole  system  of  Relief  in 
Camps,  in  Hospitals,  and  on  Battle-fields,  requiring 
the  elaborate  machinery  of  Hospital  Visitors,  Field 
Relief  Corps,  and  Auxiliary  Relief  Corps,  with  an  im 
mense  outpouring  of  voluntary  supplemental  supplies. 
Yet,  while  each  of  these  agencies  was  working  faithfully 
and  most  usefully  in  its  appropriate  sphere,  it  was  felt 
that  there  were  many  and  peculiar  needs  of  the  soldier 
which  were  not  supplied  by  any  one  of  them.     This 
obvious  deficiency  induced  the  Commission  to  establish 
a  distinct  department  of  its  work  called  the  Special  Re 
lief  Service.     It  was  first  suggested  by  an  observation 
of  the  vast  suffering  endured  by  men,  who  in  their 
relations  to  the  Army  were,  without  any  fault  of  their 
own  in  what  may  be  called  "  irregular  circumstances," 
those  whose  simplest  but  most  urgent  wants  were,  for 
the  moment,  either  beyond  the  reach,  or  beneath  the 
notice  or,  at  any  rate,  out  of  the  range  of  the  ordinary 
means  of  care  provided  by  the  Government. 

The  necessity  of  the  existence  of  some  provision  for 
wants  of  this  kind  was  obvious  from  the  very  beginning 
what  induced  of  the  war.  Owin^  to  the  manner  in 

the  Commission  m 

to  undertake  it,  which  the  troops  had  been  raised,  Regiments 
were  often  confided  to  the  care  of  officers  who  were 
utterly  unfitted  to  be  entrusted  with  the  control  of  a 
thousand  men  for  any  purpose,  and  least  of  all,  quali 
fied  to  provide  for  their  wants  in  accordance  with 


SPECIAL    RELIEF   SERVICE.  289 

the  rules  and  usages  of  the  regular  Army.  The 
incompetency  of  these  officers,  as  we  have  else 
where  endeavored  to  show,  was  painfully  conspicuous 
on  the  arrival  of  the  Regiments  at  Washington.  The 
Government  officers,  those  of  the  regular  Army,  were, 
it  must  be  confessed,  at  first,  singularly  backward  in 
assisting  the  new  Commissaries  and  Quartermasters  in 
gaining  a  knowledge  of  their  duties.  One  of  the 
results  of  this  state  of  things  was  that  in  the  early 
days  of  the  war,  Regiment  after  Regiment  arrived  at 
Washington,  and  marched  to  camps  several  miles 
distant,  while  the  sick  men  belonging  to  them  were 
left  without  any  attendants  in  the  cars,  to  shift  for 
themselves,  and  became  thus  dependent  upon  the 
humane  bystanders,  or  the  people  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  station  for  a  supply  of  food. 

The  inhumanity  of  this  state  of  things  it  is  difficult 
to  explain,  and  impossible  to  excuse.  At  one  of  the 
earliest  meetings  of  the  Commission,  on  the  Action  of  the 
21st  of  June,  1861,  a  resolution  was  passed  ^^  £ 
calling  the  attention  of  the  authorities  to  June,i86i, 
this  subject,  and  suggesting  that  buildings  properly 
fitted  up  should  be  erected  near  the  Station  for  the  re 
ception  and  care  of  the  exhausted  men  of  regiments 
arriving  at  Washington.  The  application  was  long- 
unheeded.  When,  at  last,  the  Government  erected  a 
building  it  was  not  designed  to  be  occupied  by  sick  or 
exhausted  men.  There  were  no  beds,  no  proper  food, 
and  besides,  an  order  forbidding  any  one  to  remain 
longer  than  six  hours  in  the  building  was  rigidly  en 
forced.  It  was  evidently  supposed  by  the  Authorities 
that  any  show  of  comfort  at  this  halting-place  would 


37 


290  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

prove  too  great  a  temptation  to  those  of  the  newly- 
arrived  men  who  desired  to  avoid  their  duty.  This 
action  may  have  been  grounded  upon  proper  ideas  of 
military  discipline,  but  it  produced  nevertheless  as  the 
inevitable  consequence,  a  mass  of  real  misery  which 
was  unrelieved  except  by  volunteer  aid.  On  the  9th 
of  August,  an  Agent  of  the  Commission,  Mr.  FREDER 
ICK  K  KNAPP,  whose  name  is  imperishably  associated 
with  the  history  of  the  organization  and  practical  work 
ing  of  this  peculiar  form  of  relief,  found  in  the  cars  at 
the  Station,  thirty-six  sick  men  of  an  Indiana  regiment 
apparently  abandoned  by  their  comrades,  who  had 
moved  out  to  their  camp.  These  men  were  so  utterly  un 
provided  for,  that  during  twenty-four  hours  they  had  had 
nothing  to  eat  but  a  few  crackers.  This  large-hearted 
man,  as  quick  in  action  as  he  was  generous  in  impulse 
procured  from  a  boarding-house  close  by,  two  pails 
full  of  tea,  and  soft  bread  and  butter,  with  which  he 
refreshed  and  made  comfortable  these  exhausted  men, 
until  their  Surgeon,  who  so  far  from  abandoning  them, 
had  been  absent  many  hours  striving  in  vain  to  find 
some  means  of  removing  them  to  a  Hospital,  returned. 
Thus  began  the  Sanitary  Commission's  work  of  Special 
Relief,  and  thus  were  given  the  first  of  the  four  million 
five  hundred  thousand  meals  provided  by  it  during 
the  war,  for  sick  and  hungry  soldiers.  The  next  day, 
more  than  thirty  men  of  another  Regiment  who  had 
dropped  down  from  sheer  exhaustion  during  a  forced 
march,  were  found  lying  near  the  Station.  There  was 
no  one  to  care  for  them,  for  their  Regiment  had  passed 
on;  they  were  of  course,  weak  and  hungry,  when 
fortunately  for  them,  they  were  found  out  and  cared 


SPECIAL    KELIEF   SERVICE.  291 

for  by  this  same  good  Samaritan.  Such  instances  oc 
curred  every  day.  Every  variety  of  suffering  which 
can  be  endured  by  a  sick  stranger  in  a  strange  place, 
without  money  and  without  friends,  was  undergone  by 
many  of  the  most  heroic  men  who  went  forth  to  fight 
our  battles  in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  whose 
strength  was  not  equal  to  their  courage. 

It  became  necessary,  of  course,  for  the  humane  treat 
ment  of  these  men,  most  of  whom  were  nearly  ex 
hausted  from  the  fatigue  of  the  journey,  and  "Sol^er^ome" 

...  ,     established     at 

were  suffering  from  no  disease  which  a  rest  Washington, 
of  a  few  days  and  proper  food  would  not  cure,  that 
they  should  be  at  least  provided  with  beds  and  proper 
attendance.  At  first,  the  Commission  was  permitted  to 
afford  them  this  relief  in  a  corner  of  a  building  near 
the  Station  known  as  the  "  Cane  Factory,"  but  in  a 
few  days  its  Agents  were  driven  out  of  this  place  by 
the  Provost  Marshal,  who,  with  equal  stupidity  and 
inhumanity,  insisted  that  the  arrangements  there  made 
were  converting  the  building  intended  merely  for  the 
reception  of  troops  into  a  Hospital.  Thus  baffled  by  a 
want  of  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  a 
house  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Station  was  secured 
by  the  Commission,  and  completely  fitted  up  for  its 
benevolent  purpose.  This  house  was  appropriately 
called  "The  Soldiers'  Home."  It  was  the  Head 
Quarters  of  the  Special  Relief  Service  at  Washington, 
and  as  its  plans  became  gradually  enlarged  to  meet 
the  new  wants  arising  in  the  progress  of  the  war,  it 
extended  a  form  of  relief  to  the  needy,  which  may  be 
classified  under  ten  distinct  heads.  Its  objects  were, 
"  First.  To  supply  to  the  sick  men  of  the  regiments 


292  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

arriving  such  medicines,  food,  and  care  as  it  was 
impossible  for  them  to  receive,  in  the  midst  of  the  con 
fusion,  and  with  the  lack  of  facilities,  from  their  own 
officers.  The  men  to  be  thus  -aided  are  those  who  are 
not  so  sick  as  to  have  a  claim  upon  a  General  Hospital, 
and  yet  need  immediate  care  to  guard  them  against 
serious  sickness. 

"  Second.  To  furnish  suitable  food,  lodging,  care  and 
assistance  to  men  who  are  honorably  discharged  from 
service,  sent  from  General  Hospitals,  or  from  their 
regiments,  but  who  are  often  delayed  a  day  or  more  in 
the  city  before  they  obtain  their  papers  and  pay. 

"  Third.  To  communicate  with  distant  regiments  in 
behalf  of  discharged  men,  whose  certificates  of  dis 
ability  or  descriptive  lists  on  which  to  draw  their  pay, 
prove  to  be  defective — the  invalid  soldiers  meantime 
being  cared  for,  and  not  exposed  to  the  fatigue  and  risk 
of  going  in  person  to  their  regiments  to  have  their 
papers  corrected. 

' '  Fourth.  To  act  as  the  unpaid  Agents  or  Attorneys  of 
discharged  soldiers  who  are  too  feeble,  or  too  utterly 
disabled  to  present  their  own  claim  at  the  paymaster's. 

"  Fifth.  To  look  into  the  condition  of  discharged  men 
who  assume  to  be  without  means  to  pay  the  expense 
of  going  to  their  homes ;  and  to  furnish  the  necessary 
means,  where  we  find  the  man  is  true  and  the  need 
real. 

"  Sixth.  To  secure  to  disabled  soldiers  railroad 
tickets,  at  reduced  rates,  and,  through  an  agent  at  the 
railroad  station,  see  that  these  men  are  not  robbed,  or 
imposed  upon  by  sharpers. 

"  Seventh.  To  see  that  all  men  who  are  discharged 


SPECIAL    BELIEF   SERVICE.  293 

and  paid  off  do  at  once  leave  the  city  for  their  homes ; 
or,  in  cases  where  they  have  been  induced  by  evil 
companions  to  remain  behind,  to  endeavor  to  rescue 
them,  and  see  them  started  with  through  tickets  to  their 
own  towns. 

"  Eighth.  To  make  reasonably  clean  and  comfortable, 
before  they  leave  the  city,  such  discharged  men  as  are 
deficient  in  cleanliness  and  clothes. 

"  Ninth.  To  be  prepared  to  meet  at  once,  with  food 
or  other  aid,  such  immediate  necessities  as  arise  when 
sick  men  arrive  in  the  city  in  large  numbers  from 
battle-fields  or  distant  hospitals. 

"  Tenth.  To  keep  a  watchful  eye  upon  all  soldiers 
who  are  out  of  hospitals,  yet  not  in  service ;  and  give 
information  to  the  proper  authorities  of  such  soldiers 
as  seem  endeavoring  to  avoid  duty  or  to  desert  from 
the  ranks." 

Upon  carefully  examining  this  classification,  it  will 
be  observed  that  none  of  the  persons  embraced  in  it 
were  the  proper  objects  of  that  sort  of  care,  which  was 
bestowed  by  the  ordinary  agencies  of  the  Army  or 
ganization.  Those  who  were  sick, were  not  sick  enough 
to  be  sent  to  a  General  Hospital,  and  those  who  needed 
aid  in  various  ways  required  services  which,  in  no 
sense  came  within  the  proper  scope  of  the  duties  of 
the  military  officers.  But  still  aid  and  comfort  from 
some  quarter  were  essential  to  these  suffering  men. 
It  was  demanded  upon  considerations  not  merely  of 
humanity,  but  of  patriotic  sympathy  and  gratitude 
also,  and  the  Commission  came  forward  to  supply  the 
obvious  need  with  its  Special  Relief  Service,  which  in 


294  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

extent  and  practical  value  rivalled,  in  the  end,  that 
of  any  portion  of  its  work. 

Such  is  a  meagre  outline  of  the  nature  of  the  par 
ticular  kind  of  succor  afforded  by  the  Special  Relief 
Soldiers'  Homes  Department  at  Washington  during  the  war. 
r^fti^r  Encouraged  by  the  success,  and  guided  by 
Points,  the  experience  of  the  Soldiers'  Home  and 

the  various  Lodges  attached  to  it  at  that  place,  the  work 
was  gradually  extended  to  other  points  where  soldiers 
were  to  be  found  in  similar  needy  circumstances.  Sol 
diers'  Lodges  and  Homes  were  established  by  the  Com 
mission  in  Boston,  Hartford,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Cairo,  Chicago,  and  other  places 
in  the  loyal  States  where  destitute  soldiers  in  large  num 
bers  were  congregated,  and  where  relief  of  the  same 
kind  was  administered,  on  the  same  general  principles 
as  governed  that  bestowed  in  Washington.  But  it 
was  at  the  great  gateways  of  the  principal  Armies 
where  certain  forms  of  this  kind  of  succor  were  chiefly 
dispensed.  We  have  spoken  of  Washington,  the  last 
station  on  the  route  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  but 
substantially  the  same  work  was  performed  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Commission  at  Louisville,  at  Nash 
ville,  at  Memphis,  at  New  Orleans,  and  at  various 
other  points  in  the  rear  of  the  armies  which  were  ad 
vancing  into  the  enemy's  territory.  During  the  war, 
the  Commission  maintained  forty  Homes  or  Lodges, 
scattered  throughout  the  field  of  its  operations  from 
Washington  to  Brownsville  in  Texas,  and  from  Louis 
ville  to  Port  Royal  in  South  Carolina.  They  were  in 
deed  beacons  in  a  desert  waste,  shedding  a  cheering 
and  steady  light  amidst  the  darkness  and  desolation 


SPECIAL    BELIEF   SERVICE.  295 

of  war.  In  these  refuges,  the  soldier,  when  he  had 
no  one  else  to  care  for  him  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
furnished  with  more  than  four  millions  and  a  half  of 
meals,  and  provided  with  more  than  a  million  nights' 
lodgings,  while  assistance  was  given  him  in  collecting 
from  the  Government  nearly  two  millions  and  a  half 
of  dollars,  his  hard-earned  wages. 

There  were  two  features  in  the  mode  of  administer 
ing  relief  at  these  Homes  which  well  deserve  attention. 
In  the  first  place,  the  service  rendered  was  characteristics 

.  of  the  relief  af- 

emmently  a  personal  service,  bringing  the  forded  by  them. 
Agent  of  Relief  into  actual  contact  with  the  particular 
need  of  the  individual  soldier.  One  popular  objection 
to  the  methods  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  to  which 
we  have  had  occasion  to  allude,  was  that  it  distributed 
its  gifts  through  the  Surgeons  for  the  general  relief  of 
sufferers  in  mass,  and  thus,  that  it  could  not  know 
certainly  that  the  soldier  actually  received  them,  while 
the  moral  influence  of  that  sympathy  which  was  sup 
posed  to  be  so  grateful  to  him,  and  which  would  have 
been  secured  by  personal  ministration, was  necessarily 
lost.  Experience  proved  that  the  advantages  of  this 
personal  service  in  Hospitals  had  been  as  much  over 
rated,  as  the  likelihood  of  the  misappropriation  of 
articles  intended  for  the  use  of  the  soldier,  had  been 
exaggerated.  But  the  Commission  based  its  non 
interference  with  the  care  of  the  patients  in  Hospitals 
upon  the  higher  ground  of  military  discipline.  While 
that  discipline  was  to  be  upheld  when  its  necessity  was 
apparent, the  rule  which  forbade  interference  was  not 
only  relaxed,  but  wholly  disregarded  in  those  number 
less  conditions  of  suffering  and  want  which  unfortu- 


296  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

nately  occurred  where  the  soldier  was  for  the  moment  as 
far  beyond  the  reach  of  military  control,  as  he  was  with 
out  the  circle  of  official  care.  The  result  was,  that  al 
though  the  Commission  never  interfered  with  the  case 
of  any  man  whose  wants  were  being  cared  for  by  the 
proper  officers  of  the  Government,  except  to  aid  those 
officers  at  their  own  request  and  in  their  own  way,  its 
experience  proved  that  beyond  this  well-defined  limit 
there  were  occasions  for  employing  personal  ministra 
tion  in  aid  of  the  special  and  individual  wants  of  the 
soldier  so  numerous,  as  to  demand  of  its  Agents  a  far 
greater  amount  of  work  than  that  required  in  any  of 
its  other  various  forms  of  Army  Relief. 

Another  feature  of  this  Special  Relief  Service  which 
was  somewhat  remarkable,  is  that  it  should  have  been 
Military  disci-  found  possible  to  conduct  it  without  weak- 

pline    main 
tained,  ening  the  bonds  of  military  discipline.     At 

first,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  feared  by  the  authori 
ties  that  these  Soldiers'  Homes  might  prove  lurking- 
places  for  malingerers  and  deserters,  who  would  seek 
their  shelter  to  avoid  doing  their  duty.  It  must  be 
admitted  that,  had  the  hospitality  offered  by  the  Com 
mission  been  abused,  either  purposely,  or  through  the 
carelessness  of  its  Agents,  there  would  have  been  great 
reason  to  fear  that  these  establishments  so  close  to  the 
lines  of  the  Army  would  have  proved  prejudicial  to 
discipline.  When  it  is  remembered  that  for  a  long 
period  during  the  war  the  average  number  of  men,  all 
in  some  way  or  other  connected  with  the  Army,  who 
were  lodged  nightly  in  these  Homes,  was  nearly  twen 
ty-three  hundred,  it  is  apparent  that  there  existed 
grounds  for  such  an  apprehension.  Here,  however, 


SPECIAL   BELIEF   SERVICE.  297 

that  same  regard  for  military  discipline  which  had 
its  harsh  side  perhaps,  in  refusing  to  interfere  in 
behalf  of  individuals  in  properly  organized  Hos 
pitals,  was  of  great  value  in  solving  the  delicate 
problem  how  to  relieve  the  soldier,  without  at  the 
same  time  impairing  his  sense  of  the  duty  which  he 
owed  the  Government,  or  lessening  the  responsibility 
of  those  who  were  officially  charged  with  his  care. 
The  efforts  on  the  part  of  Managers  of  these  Homes 
to  exclude  from  a  participation  in  their  benefits  all 
who  had  no  proper  claim  upon  them  soon  inspired  the 
military  authorities  with  entire  confidence  in  the  wis 
dom  of  their  administration.  The  absolute  necessity 
for  the  maintenance  of  such  establishments  at  certain 
great  centres  of  military  movement,  became,  in  the 
progress  of  the  war  so  apparent,  that  the  highest  au 
thorities  facilitated  and  encouraged  this  peculiar  form 
of  relief  in  every  way  in  their  power.  Thus  the  Gov 
ernment  permitted  the  "Home"  at  Washington  to 
draw  Army  rations  for  its  inmates ;  at  Nashville, 
where  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  men  were 
cared  for  in  the  single  year  of  1864,  buildings  were 
furnished  for  the  use  of  the  Home  without  charge, 
while  at  Cairo,  by  order  of  General  Grant,  the  Quar 
termaster  erected  at  Government  expense  a  suitable 
Home  with  all  the  necessary  offices,  "the  Commission," 
to  use  the  language  of  that  illustrious  General,  "  hav 
ing  been  of  such  great  service  to  the  country,  and  at 
Cairo  are  doing  so  much  for  this  Army  at  this  time, 
that  I  am  disposed  to  extend  their  facilities  for  doing 
good  by  every  means  in  my  power." 

Another    most   important    branch    of    the   Special 


38 


298  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

Relief  Service,  technically  so  called,  was  the  care  and 
Feeding  stations  feeding  of  wounded  men  en  route  from  the 
battle-field  to  the  distant  General  Hospitals. 


This  work  was  distinct  from  that  performed  on  the 
field  itself,  which  consisted  chiefly  in  providing  the 
Surgeons  with  supplemental  supplies  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment,  and  was  under  the  charge  of  the 
Field  Relief  Corps.  But  as  the  policy  of  removing 
the  wounded  as  rapidly  as  possible  from  battle-fields 
to  General  Hospitals  prevailed  throughout  the  war  in 
all  portions  of  the  Army,  and  as  owing  to  the  vast 
numbers  of  the  wounded,  as  well  as  to  difficulties  of 
transportation  fearful  suffering  often  ensued,  it  was 
necessary  to  adopt  some  means  of  succor  specially 
adapted  to  relieve  the  wants  of  these  men  during  their 
journey.  This  gave  rise  to  the  establishment,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  the  rear  of  all  the  great  Armies  engaged 
in  active  campaigns,  and  upon  their  lines  of  communi 
cation,  of  posts  occupied  by  the  Relief  Agents  of  the 
Commission,  and  called  Feeding  Stations.  It  will  ap 
pear  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  work  done  in  the 
different  campaigns,  how  essential  such  a  service  was 
to  those,  who  were  forced  to  make  a  journey  of  several 
days  before  they  reached  a  place  of  rest  and  compara 
tive  comfort.  Most  of  the  great  battles  of  the  war,  as 
is  well  known,  were  fought  far  away  from  the  supply 
base  of  the  armies  engaged  in  them,  and  it  is  not  easy  to 
overrate  the  agony  endured  by  those  heroic  men,  who 
with  mangled  limbs,  and  utterly  exhausted  by  fatigue 
and  hunger,  were  slowly  borne  to  the  rear.  These  suf 
ferers  were  rendered  as  comfortable  as  possible  pre 
vious  to  starting  by  contributions  from  the  Commis- 


SPECIAL    RELIEF    SERVICE.  299 

sion's  stores.  At  convenient  points  they  were  met  by 
its  Special  Relief  Agents,  and  were  supplied  by  such 
food  and  stimulants — coffee,  soup,  and  soft  bread — as 
would  serve  to  refresh  them  and  keep  up  the  strength 
necessary  to  enable  them  to  reach  their  journey's  end. 
The  thousands  who  were  thus  relieved  by  these  good 
Samaritans  of  the  wayside  at  Fredericksburg,  at  Get 
tysburg,  at  Acquia,  at  Port  Royal,  at  White  House, 
and  at  various  points  on  the  line  connecting  Nashville 
with  the  theatre  of  war  in  southern  Tennessee  and 
northern  Georgia,  are  the  best  witnesses  that  there  are 
many  occasions  in  the  life  of  the  soldier  when  he  needs 
succor  quite  as  much  as  when  he  lies  wounded  on  the 
battle-field.  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  war  than  the  persistent  care  with  which  the 
American  people  followed  their  soldiers  wherever  they 
might  be  in  need.  Ministrations  on  a  battle-field  may 
be  due  to  a  love  of  excitement,  to  the  novelty  of  the 
situation,  or  to  the  effect  of  a  deeply  roused  but  tran 
sient  sympathy,  but  this  organized  system  of  relief  in 
the  rear  of  armies  kept  up  during  months  of  active 
campaigns,  and  supplying  the  wants  of  the  soldier  as 
they  occurred,  during  his  long  and  painful  journey 
from  the  'front,'  is  a  novel  feature  in  Army  relief  pecu 
liar  to  the  American  war. 

The  work  done  at  some  of  these  Feeding  Stations  was 
immense  in  kind,  and  inestimable  in  value,  and  it  was 
not  confined  wholly  to  the  relief  of  the  Their  great 
masses  of  wounded  men  accumulated  after  emergencies, 
a  great  battle.  Owing  to  the  suddenness  and  unexpected 
character  of  military  movements,  it  often  happened 
that  Field  Hospitals  were  abandoned  by  the  Army,  and 


300  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

it  was   necessary  to  remove   their  inmates  in   large 
numbers,  with  the  utmost  promptness  to  a  place  of 
safety.     Thus  when  the  army  evacuated  Leesburg  in 
the   summer   of   1862,  the  patients  in  the  Hospital 
there,  five  hundred  in  number,  were  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  removed  to  the  canal  which  leads  to  Wash 
ington.     There  were  no  means  of  transporting  supplies 
to  them,  and  it  was  supposed  that  the  men  would  have 
sufficient  strength  to  reach  the  Washington  Hospitals, 
where  they  would  be  provided  for.    Some  friend  of  hu 
manity,  who  had  misgivings  about  the  perfection  of 
Government  arrangements,  telegraphed  to  the  office  of 
the  Commission,  "  Five  hundred  sick  and  hungry  men 
are  on  the  canal  boats  on  their  way  to  Washington. 
Can  you  do  anything  for  them  ?"     Wagon-loads  of 
food  were  at  once  dispatched  to  Georgetown,  and  on 
their  arrival  there,  these  men  who  were  in  a  deplorable 
state    of    exhaustion,   were    all    fed   and    cared    for. 
Hours  elapsed  before  ambulances  could  be  collected  to 
transport  them  to  the  Hospitals,  and   it  is  easy  to 
imagine  what  would  have  been  their  condition  during 
the  delay  had  it  not  been  for  this  timely  relief.     So 
when  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  moved  northward  from 
Fredericksburg,  in  June  of  the  next  year,  the  patients 
in  the  Hospitals  to  the  number  of  ten  thousand  were 
hastily  transferred  to  Washington  by  steamer.     On 
their  arrival  at  the  wharf,  they  found  the  Agents  of 
the   Commission   busily  engaged  in   preparations   to 
meet  their  wants,  a  kitchen  having  been  established, 
huge  cauldrons  of  hot  beef  soup  and  coffee  being  kept 
constantly  ready,  and  served  to  all  as  soon  as  they  ar 
rived.     More  than  eight  thousand  men  were  thus  fed 


SPECIAL    RELIEF   SERVICE.  301 

in  two  days,  and  most  of  them  then  received  the  only 
nourishment  they  had  obtained  from  the  time  they  left 
their  camps  on  the  Rappahannock. 

Among  the  establishments  connected  with  the  Army 
organization  which  grew  out  of  the  necessities  of  the 
war,  none  presented  a  more  important  field  convalescent 
of  labor  for  the  peculiar  work  of  the  camP' 
Special  Relief  Corps  than  the  Convalescent  Camps. 
These  establishments  were  neither  Hospitals  nor 
Camps,  but  partook  of  the  nature  of  both,  and  formed 
a  sort  of  halting-place  for  the  soldier  midway  between 
them.  They  received  men  from  the  Hospitals  who  had 
so  far  recovered  as  no  longer  to  need  medical  treat 
ment,  but  who  were  yet  not  well  enough  for  active 
service  in  the  field.  These  men  remained  in  the 
Convalescent  camps  until  they  regained  their  strength, 
or  it  became  apparent  that  they  were  wholly  incapable 
of  further  service,  and  then,  as  the  case  might  be, 
were  either  sent  to  rejoin  their  regiments,  or  were  dis 
charged  as  disabled.  In  the  course  of  time,  however, 
these  camps  became  general  rendezvous  for  the  distri 
bution  of  troops,  to  which  were  sent  not  only  conva 
lescents  from  Hospitals,  but  recruits  to  fill  up  the  old 
Regiments,  substitutes,  stragglers  of  all  kinds,  deserters, 
and  that  large  class  of  men  who  were  found  by  the 
Provost  Marshal's  guard  wandering  away  from  their 
proper  commands  without  permission.  It  will  thus  be 
seen  that  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  men  representing 
almost  every  condition  of  a  soldier's  life,  was  collected 
in  these  places.  The  vast  number  thus  separated  for 
a  time  at  least,  from  their  regular  place  in  the  army 
may  be  gathered  from  the  statement  that  during  the 


302  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

years  1863  and  1864,  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
such  men  passed  through  a  single  one  of  these  con 
valescent  camps,  that  in  the  rear  of  Alexandria.  The 
proper  management  of  such  a  place  was  an  exceed 
ingly  difficult  task.  A  permanent,  effective,  organiza 
tion  was  almost  impossible  as  the  inmates  were  con 
stantly  changing,  and  as  they  belonged  to  nearly  every 
Regiment  in  the  service,  and  to  all  the  staff  depart 
ments  of  the  Army.  The  consequence  was  that  there 
could  be  no  proper  military  duties  regularly  performed 
or  steady  discipline  kept  up,  as  the  men  were  liable, 
from  day  to  day,  to  be  discharged.  For  a  long  time 
the  natural  fruits  of  idleness  in  the  soldier  were  ap 
parent,  and  although  some  improvement  was  effected 
as  experience  was  gained,  still,  these  Convalescent 
Camps  were  always  one  of  the  most  unsightly  offshoots 
of  the  military  system.  The  wants  of  the  men  gath 
ered  in  them  were  numerous  and  exceedingly  various, 
far  more  so  than  those  of  the  same  number  of  men 
enrolled  under  ordinary  conditions  in  the  Army.  It 
was  peculiarly  a  case  in  which  personal  service,  judi 
ciously  bestowed,  might  prove  of  inestimable  value. 

The  Commission  found,  in  a  lady,  Miss  AMY  BRAD 
LEY,  the  qualities  which  rendered  her  peculiarly 
special  Belief  suited  for  superintending  the  multiform  and 
in  these  camps,  perplexing  Relief  work  of  a  Convalescent 
Camp,  and  the  record  of  her  labors  in  that  near 
Alexandria  during  two  years  and  a  half,  proves  that 
she  performed  the  delicate,  difficult  and  responsible 
duty  imposed  upon  her  with  wonderful  skill  and 
fidelity.  Her  labors  may  be  classified  under  the 
following  heads : 


SPECIAL    BELIEF    SERVICE.  303 

"  1.  Distributing  clothing  among  the  needy. 

"  2.  Procuring  dainties  for  the  sick,  and  administer 
ing  to  their  comfort  by  furnishing  gruel,  stimulants, 
etc. 

"  3.  Accompanying  discharged  soldiers  to  Wash 
ington,  and  assisting  them  in  obtaining  their  pay,  etc. 

"  4.  Distributing  note  paper  and  envelopes,  and 
writing  letters  for  the  sick  in  hospital. 

"  5.  Receiving  and  forwarding  money  for  soldiers 
to  their  friends  at  home.  This  done  by  draft  without 
cost  to  the  soldier. 

"  6.  Answering  letters  of  Inquiry  to  Hospital  Di 
rectory. 

"7.  Obtaining  certificates  for  arrears  of  pay  for 
soldiers,  and  getting  erroneous  charges  of  desertion  re 
moved. 

"  8.  Distributing  reading  matter,  such  as  newspapers 
and  periodicals  throughout  the -camp 

"9.  Telegraphing  to  the  friends  of  soldiers  very  ill 
in  hospital. 

"  10.  Furnishing  meals  to  feeble  soldiers  in  bar 
racks,  who  could  not  eat  the  food  prepared  for  stronger 


ones." 


In  addition  to  the  work  of  distributing  supplies 
among  the  needy,  and  of  affording  relief  in  various 
other  forms,  this  one  woman  assisted  more  than  twenty- 
two  hundred  men  in  collecting  the  arrears  of  pay  due 
them,  amounting  to  more  than  two  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  dollars.  Most  of  these  men  were  utterly 
disabled,  and  not  only  without  any  means  of  providing 
for  their  wants,  but  so  feeble  or  so  ignorant  as  to  be 
unable  either  to  bear  the  delay,  or  comply  with  the 


304          UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY   COMMISSION. 

rules  of  the  Paymaster's  office.  Miss  Bradley  accom 
panied  them  in  the  ambulances  in  which  they  were 
conveyed  to  Washington,  and  never  left  them  until, 
through  her  intervention,  and  by  the  assistance  of  the 
other  Agents  of  the  Commission,  they  received  their 
pay,  and  were  sent  on  their  way  home  rejoicing. 

Another  opportunity  for  the  active  exercise  of  the 
peculiar  kind  of  work  performed  by  the  Special 
Belief  of  men  Relief  Service  was  afforded  by  the  return  of 

returning    from 

Bebei  prisons,  our  soldiers,  who  had  been  Prisoners  of 
War  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Great  efforts  were 
made  during  the  confinement  of  these  men  to  relieve 
the  horrors  of  their  captivity,  by  sending  through  the 
lines  in  accordance  with  arrangements  made  between 
our  authorities  and  those  of  the  enemy,  articles  of 
clothing  and  of  sustenance.  Although  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  a  portion  of  these  gifts  failed  to  reach 
their  destination,  it  is  certain  from  the  evidence  given 
by  many  of  the  men  after  their  exchange,  that  there 
was  not  as  much  misappropriation  of  them  as  was 
at  one  time  supposed.  The  sufferings  of  the  Pri 
soners  in  the  Libby,  and  of  those  confined  at  points 
in  communication  with  Charleston,  were  unquestion 
ably  much  alleviated  by  the  supplies  sent  forward  both 
by  the  Commission  and  by  the  Government.  It  was  the 
desire  and  intention  of  the  Commission  to  render  this 
provision  for  our  suffering  men  constant  and  abundant, 
but  its  plans  were  defeated  by  the  policy  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  unfortunately  relief  of  this  kind  was 
limited  in  amount,  and  of  short  duration.  When,  at 
last,  arrangements  for  a  general  exchange  of  Prisoners 
was  settled,  and  there  was  a  prospect  that  a  large 


SPECIAL    BELIEF   SERVICE.  305 

number  of  these  men  would  reach  our  hands  in  a  state 
of  destitution  and  exhaustion,  preparations  were  made 
to  receive  them, as  soon  as  they  were  restored  to  free 
dom,  as  such  a  way  as  to  manifest  the  practical  sympa 
thy  of  the  American  people  towards  those  who  had 
been  victims  of  the  barbarity  of  the  enemy.  In 
October,  1864,  a  fleet  of  steamers  sailed  from  Fortress 
Monroe  to  the  Savannah  River  for  the  purpose  of  re 
ceiving  those  of  our  paroled,  invalid  prisoners  who 
were  to  be  delivered  to  us  by  the  rebels.  Each  of  the 
vessels  of  this  fleet  was  accompanied  by  an  Agent  of 
the  Commission,  supplied  with  suitable  stores.  When 
the  exchange  actually  took  place,  and  the  men  were  re 
ceived  on  board  it  was  felt  that  no  devotion  could  be 
too  tender,  and  no  provision  too  large,  to  give  full  ex 
pression  to  that  sympathy  which  the  spectacle  of  their 
sad  condition  excited.  Many  of  them  were  unable  to 
walk,  most  of  them  were  barefooted,  and  without  un 
derclothing,  and  their  thin,  wasted  forms  were  covered 
with  dirt  and  vermin.  They  were  made  as  comfort 
able  as  possible  according  to  the  Government  standard, 
by  our  authorities,  ordinary  rations  and  blankets  being 
issued  to  them,  but  it  was  felt  that  their  past  suffering 
and  present  destitution  deserved  a  somewhat  more 
kindly  recognition.  From  the  stores  of  the  Commis 
sion  they  were  supplied  with  milk,  tomatoes  and 
nourishing  soup.  Shirts,  socks,  slippers  and  other 
articles  were  dealt  out  liberally  to  them,  and  before 
they  arrived  at  Annapolis,  each  one  was  provided  with 
a  complete  suit  of  under  clothing.  When  they  landed  at 
that  place  they  were  sent  to  Camp  Parole,  where  they 
received  the  constant  attention  and  care  of  another 

39 


306          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

corps  of  the  Commission's  Agents  as  long  as  their 
enfeebled  condition  required  it.  Annapolis  was  the 
great  rendezvous,  during  the  war  for  paroled  prisoners, 
and  their  camp,  while  it  presented  the  clearest  evi 
dence  of  the  shocking  cruelty  of  the  rebels,  was  a  great 
field  in  which  the  active  practical  benevolence  of  the 
country  had  the  fullest  scope  for  its  exercise. 

But  not  alone  at  Annapolis  was  the  Commission 
called  on  to  perform  this  great  duty.  On  the  Red 
The  same  work  River  and  at  Wilmington,  especially,  the 
same  harrowing  sights  were  witnessed  when 
ever  our  men  returned  from  the  rebel 
prisons.  At  the  last  named  place,  early  in  the  spring 
of  1865,  more  than  nine  thousand  of  these  wretched 
men  arrived  in  a  condition  the  result  of  cruel  treat 
ment  and  neglect,  aggravated  by  positive  starvation, 
such  as  it  makes  the  heart  sick  to  recall.  These  men 
also  were  made  the  peculiar  objects  of  the  Commis 
sion's  care.  A  large  amount  of  supplies  had  been 
shipped  from  New  York  in  anticipation  of  the  arrival 
of  General  Sherman's  army  on  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina.  These  articles  in  consequence  of  the  cap 
ture  of  Wilmington,  were  not  needed  for  that  special 
purpose,  and  fortunately  proved  a  most  timely  means 
of  succor  to  these  miserable  men.  With  equal  prompt 
ness  and  energy,  Dr.  Agnew,  who  had  gone  in  charge 
of  the  supplies,  designed  for  General  Sherman's  army, 
directed  that  they  should  be  used  for  the  relief  of  the 
prisoners.  Four  thousand  suits  of  woolen  clothing 
were  at  once  issued,  and  the  sufferers  were  supplied 
with  proper  food  during  a  period  of  nearly  three  weeks. 
Army  rations  were  abundant,  but  it  was,  of  course, 


SPECIAL    RELIEF   SERVICE.  307 

necessary  to  provide  men  who  were  just  emerging 
from  a  state  of  starvation  with  a  diet  of  quite  a 
different  kind,  and  nourishing  broth  and  vegetable 
food,  staple  articles  in  the  Commission's  supply  list, 
were  fortunately,  just  such  as  their  condition  re 
quired.* 

As  the  war  went  on,  the  sphere  of  operations  at  the 
different  Homes  and  Lodges  became  enlarged  as  the 
wants  of  the  soldier  became  better  known,  Hospital  Direc. 
and  the  efforts  for  relieving  them  were  bet-  tory- 
ter  organized.  One  feature  of  the  work,  which  grew 
almost  of  necessity  out  of  the  nature  of  the  military 
service,  was  the  HOSPITAL  DIRECTORY.  In  the  con 
stantly  changing  movements  of  large  armies  it  is  im 
possible  that  the  track  of  the  individual  soldier  can  be 
always  followed  by  his  friends  at  home,  and  it  often 

*  The  intense  and  wholly  unnecessary  suffering  endured  by  our  men  in  the 
rebel  prisons,  and  the  barbarous  and  cruel  treatment  which  they  received  during 
their  confinement  at  the  hands  of  the  rebel  authorities,  was  the  subject,  above 
all  others,  which  roused  most  deeply,  public  indignation  during  the  war.  As 
it  seemed  important  that  the  truth  in  regard  to  this  matter  should  be  ascertained, 
in  order  that  the  weight  of  the  public  opinion  of  the  whole  civilized  world  should 
be  brought  to  bear  against  the  continuance  of  such  practices,  the  Commission 
requested  some  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  country  in  the  different  pro 
fessions,  to  examine  into  the  matter  and  report  the  facts  and  their  conclusions. 
These  gentlemen,  Dr.  Valentine  Mott,  Dr.  Delafield,  G.  M.  Wilkins,  Esq.,  of 
New  York,  and  Dr.  Ellerslie  Wallace,  Honorable  Judge  Hare  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Walden  of  Philadelphia,  went  to  Annapolis,  examined  many  of  the  re 
turned  prisoners  there  under  oath,  and  made  a  report  founded  upon  the  infor 
mation  thus  obtained  which  will  remain  a  monument  of  disgrace  to  a  people 
who  claim  to  be  governed  by  the  ordinary  maxims  of  humanity.  The  facts 
stated  in  this  report  in  regard  to  the  cruel  treatment  received  by  our  men  have 
never  been  successfully  controverted.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  all  confirmed 
by  the  evidence  given,  on  the  trial  of  the  wretched  Wirz,  the  keeper  of  the 
Anderson  ville  Prison.  See  "  Narrative  of  privations  and  sufferings  of  United  States 
soldiers  while  Prisoners  of  War  in  the  hands  of  the  rebel  authorities"  Published 
by  authority  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission. 


308  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

happened  during  the  war  that  these  friends  were  un 
able  for  months  at  a  time,  to  discover  his  position,  and 
not  unseldom,  that  they  were  without  the  means  of 
knowing  whether  he  was  alive  or  dead.  The  Commis 
sion,  as  the  great  medium  of  intercommunication  be 
tween  the  people  and  the  Army,  was  constantly  ap 
plied  to  to  cause  inquiries  to  be  made  through  its 
Agents  with  the  different  Armies.  At  first  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  officers  of  the  Special  Relief  Department 
to  make  these  inquiries,  but  their  number  became  so 
great,  and  the  subject  had  so  important  a  general  inte 
rest,  that  it  was  decided  to  establish  a  bureau  which 
should  have  special  charge  of  what  was  called  a  Hos 
pital  Directory.  In  this  bureau  was  kept  a  complete 
record  of  the  names  of  the  inmates  of  the  Army  Hos 
pitals,  whether  becoming  such  by  disease,or  by  wounds 
received  in  action.  The  Central  Office  at  Washington 
was  opened  to  the  public  on  the  27th  of  November, 
1862,  and  shortly  afterwards  branch  offices  were  estab 
lished  at  Philadelphia,  Louisville,  and  New  York. 
Returns  were  constantly  received  at  these  offices  from 
every  General  Hospital  in  the  Army,  two  hundred 
and  thirty-three  in  number,  and  the  Directory  there 
fore  contained  not  merely  the  names,  but  also  informa 
tion  officially  obtained,  and  within  recent  periods,  con 
cerning  the  condition  of  the  vast  multitude  of  invalids 
contained  in  them.  The  labor  involved  in  a  constant 
correspondence  with  the  officers  of  these  Hospitals,  in 
transferring  the  immense  mass  of  information  thus  re 
ceived  to  the  pages  of  the  Hospital  Directory  in  an 
orderly  and  systematic  form,  and  in  answering  inqui 
ries  in  regard  to  soldiers  who  were  missing,  or  whose 


SPECIAL    RELIEF   SERVICE.  309 

condition  was  unknown,  was,  as  may  be  supposed,  no 
light  one.  Still,  in  some  respects,  it  was  the  work 
perhaps  of  all  others,  the  results  of  which  were  the 
most  gratifying  of  any  undertaken  by  the  Commission, 
for,  in  relieving  the  anxiety  of  friends  at  home  con 
cerning  the  fate  of  those  who  were  dear  to  them,  it 
roused  the  deepest  feelings  of  gratitude  in  a  large  and 
important  class  towards  an  organization  which  gave 
such  a  practical  proof  of  its  humane  spirit  and  en 
larged  methods.  The  Hospital  Directory  contained  in 
its  four  offices  the  names  of  more  than  six  hundred 
thousand  men,  with  the  latest  information  procurable 
in  regard  to  the  position  and  actual  condition  of  each 
one  of  them.  After  great  battles,  the  anxiety  on  the 
part  of  those  at  home  to  ascertain  the  fate  of  their 
friends  serving  in  the  army  was,  of  course,  intense. 
The  officers  of  the  Commission  did  not  wait  until  the 
wounded  were  transferred  to  General  Hospitals  before 
they  discovered  their  names  and  condition.  On  the 
contrary,  as  soon  as  the  roar  of  the  battle  had  ceased, 
the  Agents  of  the  Directory  Bureau  accompanied 
those  of  the  Supply  Department  in  their  ministrations 
to  the  wounded  on  the  field,  and  while  bodily  suffering 
was  relieved  by  one  class  of  agents,  every  effort  was 
made  by  the  other  to  cheer  and  encourage  the  sufferer 
by  an  assurance  that  his  friends  at  home  should  know, 
at  once,  his  exact  condition.  Nothing  is  more  remark 
able  as  showing  the  energy  and  humanity  of  the 
American  people  or  the  enlarged  method  of  operations 
adopted  by  the  Commission  as  its  representative,  than 
this  double  service,  differing  so  essentially  in  the  ob 
jects  proposed  to  be  accomplished,  but  guided  by  the 


310  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

same  humane  spirit,  and  performed  at  the  same  time 
amidst  the  confusion  and  horrors  of  the  battle-field. 

The  mode  of  obtaining  the  information  afforded  by 
the  Directory  was  very  simple.  The  applicant  com- 
The  mode  of  municated  to  the  Bureau  the  name.  rank. 

consulting  it  and 

its  value.  and  regiment  of  the  person  inquired  for,  and 
the  point  at  which  he  had  been  last  heard  from.  With 
these  indications  a  search  was  immediately  made,  and 
the  result  communicated  without  delay.  The  average 
number  of  successful  inquiries  made  is  estimated  at 
about  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number.  The  in 
terest  awakened  in  this  work  of  the  Hospital  Directory 
among  all  who  had  friends  in  the  Army,  was  con 
stantly  expressed  as  their  own  personal  experience 
testified  to  its  value.  "  Mothers  write  of  their  '  undy 
ing  gratitude'  for  the  simple  announcement  that  their 
boys  are  doing  well  in  hospital ;  others  '  invoke  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  the  labors  of  the  Commission/ 
and  sisters  '  will  cherish  the  warmest  gratitude  while 
memory  lasts.'  The  eagerness  with  which  inquiries 
were  made  was  scarcely  less  touching :  '  By  the  love  you 
bear  your  own  mother  tell  me  where  my  boy  is!' 
'Only  give  me  some  tidings!'  'Is  he  dead,  and  how 
did  he  die?'  '  Is  he  alive,  and  how  can  I  get  to  him?' 
'  I  pray  you  tell  me  of  those  two  nephews  I  am  seek 
ing  for.  I  have  had  fourteen  nephews  in  the  service, 
and  these  two  are  the  only  ones  left.' ' 

The  Commission's  PENSION  BUREAU  AND  WAR 
CLAIM  AGENCY  was  another  department  of  its  work 
War  claim  which  grew  out  of  the  constant  necessities 
Agency,  of  ^e  discharged  soldiers  who  found  refuge 

in  its  Homes  and  Lodges.     It  appeared  that  nearly 


SPECIAL   RELIEF   SERVICE.  311 

every  one  of  these  men  who  passed  through  the  Home 
at  Washington,  had  a  claim  either  for  arrears  of  pay 
or  for  bounty,  or  arising  in  some  other  of  the  various 
ways  in  which  the  Government  becomes  indebted  to 
the  soldier.  The  rules  of  the  Paymaster's  Depart 
ment  were,  necessarily,  very  strict,  not  merely  in  re 
gard  to  the  evidence  required  to  substantiate  claims 
but  also  in  regard  to  the  form  in  which  they  were  to 
be  presented.  It  was  not,  of  course,  to  be  expected, 
that  men  so  utterly  ignorant  of  official  routine  as 
private  soldiers,  and  withal  so  enfeebled  in  their  condi 
tion  as  to  render  their  discharge  from  the  service 
necessary,  could  prosecute  their  claims  with  any  hope 
of  a  speedy  settlement  where  there  was  the  slightest 
complexity  in  their  character.  Men  in  this  condition, 
found  at  the  Homes  and  Lodges,  a  ready  aid  and  as 
sistance  from  officers  of  the  Commission  detailed  for 
that  purpose.  Their  papers  were  put  in  proper  form, 
and  their  defects  supplied  by  those  who  were  familiar 
with  the  requirements  of  the  Pay  Office,  and  thus  the 
soldier  was  enabled  to  receive  his  hard  earned  wages 
with  as  little  delay,  and  the  smallest  amount  of  incon 
venience  possible.  To  such  a  refinement  of  care  for 
his  comfort  was  this  system  carried  at  Washington, 
that  the  Commission  established  one  of  its  Lodges, 
directly  opposite  to  the  Paymaster's  office  where  those 
who  were  too  feeble  to  wait  their  turn  in  the  crowd, 
but  whose  presence  was  necessary  in  order  to  obtain 
their  pay  might  remain  and  rest,  until  the  officials 
were  ready  to  attend  to  them.  At  this  Lodge  a 
table  which  would  seat  fifty  persons,  was  kept  con 
stantly  supplied  with  suitable  food,  and  some  one  was 


312  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

always  in  attendance  to  give  such  information  and  as 
sistance,  as  might  be  needed  by  the  discharged  soldier 
in  securing  his  money.  This  work  was  not  confined  to 
Washington,  but  was  actively  carried  on  at  all  the 
great  military  centres.  The  result  was  that  more 
than  two  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  due 
discharged  soldiers  were  secured  to  them  in  cases 
where  the  papers  had  been  examined  and  perfected  by 
the  Agents  of  the  Commission  at  its  Lodges. 

As  the  war  went  on,  claims  of  all  kinds,  against  the 
Government,  became  so  numerous,  and  the  aid  of  the 
The  same  sub-  Commission   in  prosecuting  them    was   so 
ject  continued,     constantly  invoked,  that  it  became  necessary 
to  establish  a  distinct  department  having  in  charge 
one  particular  class  of  these  claims,  applications  for 
pensions.     The  Free  Pension  Agency  of  the  Commis 
sion,  as  it  was  called,  commenced  its  operations  on  the 
10th   of  February,   1863.      Applications   for   invalid 
pensions   made   through   the  Commission   were   pre 
sented  by  it  to  the  proper  Government  Bureau,  the  ne 
cessary  papers  filed,  and  the  business  prosecuted  to  a 
settlement.     It  had  the  twofold  object  of  saving  the 
applicant  from  imposition,  annoyance  and  a  vast  deal 
of  trouble  in  ascertaining  whether  he  was  legally  en 
titled  to  a  pension,  and  afterwards  of  securing  it  with 
out  any  expense  on  his  part.     The  Agency  was  so  well 
managed   that   it  soon  became  the  principal  channel 
through  which  claims  of  this  kind  were  presented,  and 
its  usefulness  was  afterwards  extended  by  including 
under  its  charge  claims  of  all  kinds  against  the  Gov 
ernment,  held  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Army.     Towards 
the  close  of  the  war,  its  name  was  changed  to  that  of 


SPECIAL    RELIEF   SERVICE.  313 

the  "  Army  and  Navy  Claim  Agency,"  and  its  opera 
tions  were  extended  by  means  of  more  than  a  hundred 
sub-agencies  in  direct  communication  with  the  central 
office, to  every  part  of  the  North  and  West.  By  means 
of  this  Agency  and  its  affiliated  branches, between  fifty- 
five  and  sixty  thousand  claims  for  pensions  to  soldiers, 
their  widows,  mothers,  or  orphans  have  been  presented 
to  the  proper  Government  officers,  and  the  evidence  in 
support  of  them  arranged  and  preserved.  These  claims 
form  nearly  one  half  of  the  whole  number  presented  to 
the  Government  Pension  Office,  and  all  the  labor  con 
nected  with  their  prosecution  being  rendered  gratui 
tously  as,  it  is  needless  to  say,  are  all  the  other  services  of 
the  Sanitary  Commission,  the  amount  saved  to  these 
most  deserving  of  all  the  creditors  of  the  Govern 
ment  is  represented  precisely  by  the  fees  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  paid  by  them  to  Claim 
Agents.  The  claims  for  pensions  entrusted  to  the 
Commission's  Bureau  are  supposed  to  represent  a 
money  value  of  about  seven  million  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  the  saving  thus  effected  to  those 
who  present  them  exceeds  half  a  million  of  dollars. 
With  the  close  of  the  war,  the  operations  of  this 
Bureau  did  not  cease,  but  on  the  contrary  became  more 
widely  extended,  because  until  the  Army  was  dis 
banded  a  large  number  of  soldiers  entitled  to  pensions 
had  had  no  opportunity  for  presenting  their  claims. 
It  is  still  kept  open  at  Washington  although  its 
Agencies  at  different  points  have  been  discontinued 
and  their  business  transferred  to  the  Central  Office, 
and  it  is  intended  that  this  humane  and  beneficent 
work,  one  of  the  most  grateful  in  all  its  aspects  of  any 

40 


314          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

in  which  the  Commission  has  ever  been  engaged  shall 
go  on  until  all  the  claims  confided  to  it  have  been 
finally  disposed  of. 

There  was  a  great  variety  of  work  undertaken  by 
the  Special  Relief  Department  of  the  Commission  less 
other  forms  of  conspicuous  in  its  character,  perhaps,  than 
Special  Belief,  ^}ia^  which  we  have  described,  but  still  hav 
ing  a  direct  and  important  bearing  on  the  welfare  of 
the  soldier.  Thus,  provision  wras  made  at  the  Homes 
Care  of  the  wives  at  the  great  military  centres  for  the  accom- 
dlsaMeTU-  m°dation  of  tne  wives  an(i  mothers  of  sol 
ders,  diers,  whose  anxiety  concerning  their  rela 
tives  in  Hospitals  had  led  them  to  come  to  their  relief. 
Those  who  appreciate  the  natural  impulse  of  affection 
which  prompts  such  journeys,  and  who  understand 
the  anomalous  position  of  a  woman  in  an  Army,  as 
well  as  the  limited  means  of  most  of  those  who  came 
upon  such  an  errand,  will  not  be  slow  to  recognize  the 
humanity  of  some  provision  for  their  decent  accommo 
dation.  This  was  one  of  the  needs  developed  by  the 
progress  of  the  war  which  certainly  had  not  been  fore 
seen,  and  for  which  it  was  clearly  not  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  provide.  The  whole  policy  of  the 
Commission  in  regard  to  such  needs  was  what  may  be 
called  a  shifting  one,  adapting  its  methods  of  relief  to 
the  endless  catalogue  of  difficulties,  embarrassments 
and  sufferings  which  beset  a  soldier's  life.  Thus  it 
Fresh  Hospital  appeared,  that  the  barren  market  at  Wash- 
Washington,  ington  was  wholly  unable  to  supply  the  vast 
Hospitals  there  with  fresh  provisions  of  a  good  quality, 
and  at  a  reasonable  price.  The  Commission,  at  the 
request  of  the  Surgeon -General,  in  the  spring  of  1863 


SPECIAL    RELIEF   SERVICE.  315 

undertook  to  procure  these  provisions  in  the  much 
more  abundant  market  of  Philadelphia,  and  to  send 
them  daily  in  proper  condition  to  Washington.  This 
service  was  regularly  and  faithfully  performed  during 
a  period  of  nine  months,  and  the  result  was  that  the 
Hospitals  at  Washington  were  far  better  supplied  and 
at  a  very  much  less  cost  than  they  had  previously 
been.  No  one  suffered  by  this  arrangement  unless  the 
Hospital  Stewards,  whose  perquisites  were  affected  by 
it,  and  the  hucksters  in  Washington  whose  exorbitant 
gains  were  cut  off,  may  be  considered  proper  objects 
of  commiseration.  The  actual  outlay  made  by  the 
Commission  for  this  purpose,  was,  of  course,  reim 
bursed  from  the  Hospital  Fund,  but  the  labor  and  re 
sponsibility  of  the  service,  involving  the  purchase  and 
transportation  of  more  than  one  thousand  tons  of  food, 
were  very  serious,  but  nevertheless,  had  their  full  re 
ward  in  the  improved  condition  of  the  patients. 

The  plans  of  the  Commission  for  the  welfare  of  the 
soldier  embraced  a  minute  attention  to  all  his  possible 
wants  which  was  very  remarkable.  Thus  Employment  of 
Detectives  were  employed  by  it,  whose  busi-  Detectives, 
ness  it  was  to  watch  the  sharpers  who,  like  evil  birds 
of  prey,  were  always  ready  to  rob  the  soldier  as  soon 
as  he  left  the  Paymaster's  office.  Then,  again,  Couriers 
were  employed  who  accompanied  the  trains  Couriers, 
going  North  from  Washington,  looked  after  the  wants 
of  the  sick  and  feeble  soldiers  in  the  cars,  many  of 
them  just  discharged  from  Hospitals,  and  took  care 
that  they  were  provided  for  at  one  of  the  various 
Homes  of  the  Commission  on  the  route,  if  their  strength 


316  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

was  insufficient  to  enable  them  to  prosecute  their 
journey. 

This  multiform  work  of  Special  Relief  deserves  at 
tention  and  study  quite  as  much  on  account  of  the 
novelty  of  its  methods,  as  from  the  peculiar  nature  of 
General  results  the  care  it  bestowed  upon  the  soldiers. 

of  Special  Belief        T  .  . 

Service,  Who  ever  read,  in  the  history  of  any  war 

waged  since  wars  began  upon  the  earth,  that  the  worn 
out  soldier  as  soon  as  he  was  turned  adrift  by  the 
Government,  far  away  from  his  home  and  utterly  help 
less  found  a  friendly  hand  outstretched  to  supply  his 
first  wants, — those  of  food  and  shelter?  Where  do 
we  find  any  record  of  a  voluntary  system  thoroughly 
organized  and  conducted  on  an  extensive  scale,  by 
which  the  soldier  was  aided  without  fee  or  reward,  in 
obtaining  from  the  Government  the  money  due  him? 
Where  was  ever  before  practically  developed  into 
action  that  beautiful  thought,  the  outgrowth  of  a  large 
humanity,  which  prompted  the  same  organization  to 
convey  to  anxious  relatives  information  concerning  the 
condition  of  those  who  were  dear  to  them,  when  ab 
sent  and  in  danger  ?  Who  ever  thought  before  of 
caring  for  the  wives  and  mothers  of  soldiers  when 
their  affection  induced  them  to  brave  hardship  and 
privation  in  order  that  they  might  be  near  their  suffer 
ing  husbands  and  sons  ?  The  possibility  of  accom 
plishing  a  tithe  of  all  that  was  actually  done  in  this 
direction  during  the  war  would  have  been  regarded 
by  those  who  were  guided  by  the  experience  of  former 
wars  as  the  dream  of  an  enthusiast.  The  truth  is, 
this  mighty  work  was  the  genuine  product  of  Ameri 
can  civilization,  in  all  respects  novel  and  peculiar,  but 


SPECIAL   RELIEF   SERVICE.  317 

at    the    same   time,   in   perfect   harmony   with   that 
spirit    which    is   the    true   life    of  American   institu 
tions.     The  soldiers  of  the  Republic  were  no  hirelings 
in  the  opprobrious  sense  in  which  that  term  might 
be    applied   to   those    composing  European  Armies. 
They  were   "bone   of  our    bone,    and    flesh    of  our 
flesh,"  and  it  was  certain,  therefore,  that  in  some  way 
they  would  become  the  objects  of  that  humane  spirit 
which   has  been  so  largely  developed  everywhere  in 
modern  times,  but  which  guided  and  controlled  by  the 
popular  ideas  of  this  country  exhibited  such  extraordi 
nary  activity  and  usefulness  during  the  war.     A  con 
stant  effort  was  made  by  those  at  home  to  prove  to 
those  in  active  service  how  complete  and  practical  was 
the  sympathy  which  existed  with  them  in  all  their  trials 
and  sufferings.     This  was  done,  not  on  the  ground  of 
humanity  alone,  but  because  such  was  the  confidence 
in   the   intelligence   and  self-sacrificing  spirit  of   the 
soldier,  that  it  was  felt  that  such  manifestations  formed 
the   highest   incentive   to   renewed  zeal   on  his  part. 
Such  men  were  not  to  be  bribed  to  do  their  duty  by 
the  distribution  of  a  few  gifts,  but  their  moral  purpose 
was   immensely  strengthened  by  the    evidence   these 
gifts  afforded  of  the  intense  and  anxious  interest  with 
which   every  step  of  their  progress  was  watched  by 
those  they  loved.     The  history  of  events  proved  most 
conclusively  that  the  American  people  had  not  been 
mistaken  in  the  character  of  their  soldiers,  and  par 
ticularly  in  the  mighty  influence  which  the  sacred  idea 
of  home  exerted  over  them.      Disbanded  soldiers  in 
other  countries,  and  in  former  wars  have  been  regarded 
almost  as   outcasts,  spreading  terror  and  dismay  by 


318  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

their   wild   license   in  the   quiet   communities  which 
they  re-entered.     In  other  countries  they  have  been  as 
little  under  moral  restraint  as  escaped  convicts,  their 
passions    long   repressed   by   the   brute   force   of    an 
arbitrary  military  discipline,  and  once  again   allowed 
free   play,  leading  to  frightful  excesses  of  all  kinds. 
Hence,  the   disbanding  of  even  a   small   Army  has 
often  been  the  signal  of  a  vast  and  immediate  increase 
of  disorder   and   crime.      Far  different  was  the  case 
here.     The  world  has  never  witnessed  a  scene  more 
striking  and  novel  in  its  moral  aspects  than  that  which 
followed  the  disbanding  of  the  American  army  at  the 
close  of  the  Rebellion.     One  million  of  soldiers,  per 
fectly  organized,  under  officers  of  the  highest  military 
capacity,  flushed  with  recent  and  unparalleled  victory, 
and  capable,  as  the  Duke  of  Wellington  said,  of  the 
British  Army  in  the  Peninsula,  "  of  going  any  where 
and  doing  anything,"   not  only  lay  down  their  arms 
quietly,  now  that  their  work  is  done,  without  a  thought 
of  gaining  any  unpatriotic  purpose  by  the  enormous 
power  they  wield,  but  disperse  gladly  to  their  homes 
and  fill  up  the  places  which  had  been  kept  open  for 
them  during  the  war,  as  if  they  were  returning  from 
some   holiday  pageant.     The  explanation  of  this  ex 
traordinary  state  of  things  lies  deep  in  the  peculiar 
spirit   of    American    civilization,    and    certainly  the 
event   itself  is  one   of  the   proudest   monuments   of 
its   value.      The   truth   is   the   soldier   never   ceased 
to  be  a  citizen  while  he  was  in  the  Army.     He  be 
came  willingly  subject  to  military  discipline,  because  the 
work  to  be  done  could  be  performed,  in  no  other  way, 
and  there    cannot  be  a  doubt   that  one  of  the   most 


SPECIAL    RELIEF   SERVICE.  319 

striking  peculiarities  of  the  struggle,  in  history  will 
be,  that  it  was  one  of  those  rare  wars  in  which  the 
private  soldiers  had  as  thorough  an  appreciation  of 
its  objects,  and  the  sacrifices  necessary  to  be  made 
in  order  to  bring  it  to  a  successful  termination,  as 
the  Generals  in  command,  or  the  most  enlightened 
public  opinion  of  the  country  in  whose  service  they 
were  fighting. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

WARFARE  AGAINST  SCURVY— CAMPAIGN  OF  VICKSBURG. 

DURING  the  summer  of  1862  the  work  of  the  Com 
mission  went  on  steadily  increasing  in  value  and  effi- 
ciency  in  the  Armies  of  the  West.  After 
o?  the  battle  of  Kttsburg.  Landing  and  the 
1862,  evacuation  of  Corinth  by  the  enemy,  there 

was  a  large  accumulation  of  sick  and  wounded,  who 
suffered  greatly  in  the  Hospitals  located  in  the  in 
salubrious  region  of  South-western  Tennessee.  Per 
haps  at  no  time  did  the  Army  suffer  more  from  diseases 
arising  from  the  nature  of  the  climate  of  the  region 
which  it  occupied.  This  condition  of  things  required 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Medical  authorities,  the  transfer 
of  many  of  the  patients  to  Hospitals  north  of  the  Ohio 
River.  The  numerical  strength  of  the  Army  became 
so  depleted  by  this  process  that  the  Generals  became 
alarmed,  and  complained  loudly.  Yet  it  is  certain 
that  none  of  the  Medical  Officers,  who  alone  were  ca 
pable  of  forming  a  correct  opinion  on  such  a  matter, 
deemed  it  possible  to  pursue  any  other  course  consis 
tently  with  a  proper  regard  for  the  lives  of  the  men. 
The  Agents  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  agreeing  per 
fectly  in  opinion  with  the  Medical  Officers,  and  all 
suffering,  in  person,  from  the  effects  of  the  climate, 
assisted  in  this  work  of  removing  the  patients  acting 


320 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  321 

in  strict  accordance,  of  course,  with  the  rules  of  Army 
discipline.  The  ill  humor  of  the  Generals  at  the  loss 
of  their  men  was,  strange  to  say,  vented  upon  these 
Agents.  The  course  pursued  by  them,  however 
humane  in  its  results,  was  one  for  which  they 
were  responsible  only  as  aiding  the  Medical  authori 
ties  themselves.  This  is  the  true  history  of  the 
ridiculous  charge  against  the  Sanitary  Commission, 
attributed  to  a  General  of  high  rank,  that  it  had 
"  stolen"  several  thousand  of  his  troops  after  the  eva 
cuation  of  Corinth. 

Immediately  after  that  event,  the  Army  which  had  in 
vested  Corinth  was  divided,  the  original  command  of 
General  Buell  being  detached  with  the  view  The  Amy  of  the 
of  making  an  attempt  on  Chattanooga,  and  ^T^a 
the  remainder  under  General  Grant  march-  divided, 
ing  southwardly  on  the  line  of  the  Mobile  and  Ohio 
Railroad,  having  for  its  object,  in  cooperation  with  a 
force  which  was  sent  down  the  Mississippi  under  Gene 
ral  Sherman,  the  investment  and  capture  of  Vicksburg. 
Both  of  these  expeditions  were  unsuccessful,  and  in  both 
the  failure  was  due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  difficulty  of 
keeping  open,  while  in  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country, 
long  lines  of  communication  by  which  supplies  in  suffi 
cient  quantity  could  reach  the  Army.  To  maintain  those 
lines  unbroken  has  always  been  the  first  condition  of 
success  with  the  Armies  operating  in  the  South-west  ; 
how  to  do  it  completely,  arid  thoroughly,  was  a  secret 
not  learned  until  nearly  two  years  afterwards.  The 
fatigues  of  these  campaigns,  owing  to  forced  marches, 
were  excessive,  and  the  privations  which  the  men  en 
dured  in  consequence  of  the  insufficiency  of  supplies, 


41 


322  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

so  impaired  the  vital  force  of  both  armies  that  when 
that  under  Buell,  then  commanded  by  Rosecrans, 
rested  at  Murfreesboro,  and  that  under  General  Grant, 
embarked  at  Memphis  for  Vicksburg,  symptoms  of  a 
disease  which,  all  experience  has  proved,  affects  more 
seriously  the  strength  of  an  army  than  the  casualties 
of  the  battle-field,  began  to  prevail  to  an  alarming 
extent. 

This  disease  was  the  SCURVY,  the  natural  and  inevi 
table  fruit  of  the  conditions  in  which  both  of  these 
Symptoms  of  Armies  had  been  placed.  The  Medical  and 
scurvy  appear,  Hygienic  history  of  Armies  had  led  us  to  ex 
pect  that,  sooner  or  later,  our  Army  would  suffer  from  the 
effect  of  this  malady,  but  it  had  also  taught  us  that  it  was 
possible  to  guard  almost  wholly  against  the  danger  to  be 
apprehended  from  it.  This  was  just  one  of  those  condi 
tions  which  the  Commission  had  anticipated  from  the 
beginning,  and  its  whole  theory  of  action  was  based, 
as  we  have  seen,  upon  the  practicability  of  counteract 
ing  the  wide-spread  evils  which  would  be  developed  by 
its  unchecked  prevalence.  Faithful  to  its  convictions, 
it  had  constantly  endeavored  to  persuade  the  Gov 
ernment  to  adopt  in  time  precautionary  measures 
against  diseases  which,  experience  had  proved,  might 
be  averted  by  such  measures.  Whatever  else  was 
omitted,  this  duty  was  never  neglected.  Every  part 
of  its  relief  system,  vast  as  it  was  in  its  proportions 
and  beneficent  as  it  was  in  its  results,  was  subordinate 
in  its  estimation  to  the  necessity  and  value  of  these 
preventive  measures.  Thus  during  the  first  summer 
of  the  war,  it  had  urged  the  adoption  of  true  sanitary 
measures,  including  a  provision  of  suitable  food,  as 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  323 

indispensable  for  preserving  the  new  recruits  from 
those  forms  of  dysenteric  disease  which  a  novel  and 
coarse  kind  of  food  eaten  in  a  malarious  region,  would 
be  certain  to  produce.  Thus,  previous  to  the  campaign 
in  the  Peninsula  it  was  foreseen  that  long  and  ex 
hausting  marches  in  a  country  filled  with  swamps, 
where  the  water  was  impure,  and  where  even  an  occa 
sional  supply  of  vegetables  was  not  to  be  had,  would 
produce  that  type  of  disease  which  afterwards,  under 
the  name  of  the  Chickahominy  fever,  proved  so  un 
manageable  and  so  fatal  to  the  troops.  The  recommen 
dation  by  the  Commission  of  such  measures  as  it 
deemed  essential  to  forestall  the  threatened  evils  of 
these  campaigns  was  in  a  great  measure  unheeded,  and 
it  was  left  to  deplore  the  sad  results  which  it  had  been 
unable  to  prevent.  In  the  West,  however,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1863,  there  was  opened  before  it 
a  field  for  the  employment  of  preventive  measures  on 
a  grand  scale,  into  which  there  was  much  encourage 
ment  to  enter  and  labor. 

The  first  appearance  of  the  symptoms  of  scurvy  in 
the  Armies  of  the  Tennessee  and  the  Cumberland, 
roused  the  officers  of  the  Commission  to  Measures  taken 
strenuous  efforts  to  check  it  at  the  outset,  g^™ 
Their  early  call  upon  the  farmers  of  the  North-west  for 
a  supply  of  vegetables  which  alone  could  stop  its  pro 
gress  and  finally  eradicate  its  poison,  the  wonderful 
alacrity  with  which  these  articles  were  contributed  to 
the  depots  of  the  Commission  and  sent  to  the  "  front," 
the  extraordinary  results  which  followed  their  use,  the 
peculiar  honor  and  gratitude  which  are  due  to  this  life- 
saving  work  in  the  absence  of  any  suitable  provision 


324  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

made  by  tfre  Government  to  meet  the  emergency,  all 
go  to  make  up  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  instructive 
chapters,  not  only  in  the  Commission's  history,  but  in 
that  of  voluntary  benevolent  effort  at  any  time. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  under  General  Rose- 
crans  after  a  vigorous  campaign  in  Northern  Missis- 


the  sippi  and  Southern  Tennessee  had  marched 

Army  of  the 

Cumberland  af-  to  Murfreesboro,  where  on  New  Year's  clay, 

stone  K*ver!e0f  1863>  it  fought  the  ever  memorable  battle 
of  Stone  River.  This  battle  cost  us  eight  thousand 
wounded  men  whose  wants,  and  indeed  those  of  the 
entire  Army,  were  to  be  supplied  by  railroad  transpor 
tation  always  difficult,  and  often  precarious,  from  Louis 
ville  to  the  battle-field.  Shortly  after  the  battle  the 
Army  went  into  winter  quarters,  and  then  began  to  be 
observed  the  result  of  the  terrible  privations  of  the 
preceding  campaign.  Its  discipline  was  excellent,  and 
all  accounts  agree  in  saying  that  its  condition,  so  far  as 
it  depended  on  the  observance  of  such  sanitary  mea 
sures  as  were  possible  with  its  limited  supplies,  has 
never  been  surpassed  by  that  of  any  Army  during  the 
war.  But  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  scorbutic  taint 
was  there,  the  seed  of  the  poison  had  not  germinated 
during  the  excitement  of  the  march  and  the  battle, 
but  a  short  period  of  inactivity  served  to  develope  it 
in  all  its  virulence,  and  the  only  means  of  checking  its 
ravages,  a  supply  of  fresh  vegetables,  was  not  at  hand, 
and  it  seemed  impossible  to  procure  them. 

In  order  to  show  how  well  founded  was  the  alarm 
of  those  who  observed  the  appearance  of  the  first 
The  nature  of  symptoms  of  this  disease  in  the  Army,  and 
scurvy,  what  dangers  were  likely  to  arise  from  its 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  325 

continued  spread  and  prevalence,  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  state,  in  a  few  words,  what  scurvy  is.  "  It  is 
then  a  chronic  blood  disease.  Its  essential  character 
istic  is  a  decided  and  peculiar  change  in  the  constitu 
ents  of  the  blood,  in  which  the  amount  of  water  and 
fibrin  are  greatly  augmented,  whilst  there  is  a  corre 
sponding  diminution  in  the  number  of  blood-corpuscles, 
in  the  amount  of  albumen,  and  in  the  quantity  of  lime, 
iron  and  potash,  in  healthy  blood.  This  blood-degenera 
tion  is  the  consequence  of  defective  nutrition ;  and  the  in 
dication  of  cure  is  to  furnish  in  available  form  for  use 
those  elements  in  which  the  diseased  blood  is  deficient. 
Change  of  habit  and  surroundings,  proper  and  in 
creased  attention  to  the  conditions  of  health,  effect 
much — but  a  change  in  the  diet  is  the  great  desideratum. 
In  fact,  vegetables  and  their  products,  are  the  medicines 
upon  which  the  surgeon  mainly  relies  in  his  treatment 
of  this  disease." 

The  Government  officers  having  ascertained  beyond 
question  the  existence  and  probable  spread  of  this 
fearful  disease,  at  once  gave  public  notice  Eff°rts  of  the 
that  they  were  desirous  of  purchasing  for  cure  vegetables, 
the  use  of  the  Army,  fifty  thousand  bushels  of  potatoes 
and  a  corresponding  quantity  of  other  vegetables. 
Strange  to  say,  their  appeal  met  with  no  response,  and 
no  proposals  for  a  supply  were  made.  Whether  this 
was  due  to  a  real  scarcity  of  the  articles  asked  for,  or 
to  a  fear  of  the  result  of  a  rigid  government  inspec 
tion,  or  to  difficulties  of  transportation,  we  cannot  say. 
The  fact  is  unquestionable  that  no  one  chose  to  become 
responsible  for  the  delivery  to  the  Government,  on  any 
terms,  of  the  large  amount  of  vegetables  required. 


326  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  Medical  Officers  therefore  of  General  Rosecrans' 
army,  who  had  a  most  enlightened  appreciation  of  the 
urgency  of  the  want,  found  to  their  dismay,  that  no 
aid  could  reach  them  through  Government  channels. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  as  illustrating  what  false  conclu 
sions  may  be  drawn  from  a  reliance  upon  the  opera- 
Vegetabies  is-  tions  of  the  ordinary  routine  machinery  of 
cer^bufno^o  ^  Army,  that,  during  all  this  time,  not 
private  soldiers,  only  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
but  the  Corps  commanders  also,  supposed  that  the 
soldiers  were  supplied  with  vegetables.  The  books 
of  the  Commissary  General  showed  an  issue  of  a 
hundred  barrels  daily,  and  the  inference,  of  course, 
was  that  they  were  consumed  by  the  soldiers.  It 
appeared,  on  examination,  however,  that  one-fourth 
in  amount  of-  this  issue  went  to  the  staff  officers  and 
their  families  at  Head-Quarters,  and  that,  of  the  re 
maining  three-fourths,  the  Commissaries  of  the  various 
Corps,  Divisions  and  Brigades  obtained  the  larger 
portion,  so  that  the  Regimental  Commissaries  who 
supplied  the  wants  of  the  private  soldiers  were  left 
almost  wholly  unprovided.  An  investigation  by  the 
Medical  Inspector  of  the  Army  revealed  the  extraor 
dinary  fact  that,  although  this  very  liberal  daily  distri 
bution  was  shown  by  the  books  of  the  Commissary 
General,  still  the  soldiers  had  not  received,  on  an 
average,  from  the  Government,  more  than  three  rations 
of  vegetables,  during  the  twelve  months  ending  on 
the  first  of  April,  1863.  The  injustice  of  this  ar 
rangement  was  so  glaring,  and  the  danger  to  the 
health  of  the  troops  from  its  continuance  so  im 
minent,  that  the  Inspector  suggested  in  his  official 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  327 

report  to  the  Commanding  General,  as  the  only  remedy, 
that  the  private  soldier  should  receive  the  first  distri 
bution,  and  that  officers  and  their  families  should  then 
be  permitted  to  take  what  remained.  This  suggestion 
was  never  fully  carried  out,  and  the  need  of  the 
soldier  continued  to  increase.* 

In  this  condition  of  things,  the  Medical  Inspector 
on  duty  with  that  Army,  Colonel  Frank  Hamilton, 
applied  to  Dr.  Newberry,  the  Western  Sec-  Application  of 

/.,,,>,  •      •  £  -    ,  the  Medical  An- 

retary  of  the  Commission  for  assistance.  thorities  to  the 
He  was  informed  by  that  officer  that  the  Commission  for 

J  m  aid— Shipm  e  n  t 

subject  had  already  been  brought  to  his  at-  of  vegetables. 
tention  by  Dr.  Read,  the  faithful  and  intelligent  chief 
of  the  Commission's  service  in  the  Army  of  the  Cum 
berland,  and  that,  in  accordance  with  his  request,  ship 
ments  of  vegetables  had  already  been  made  from 
Louisville  to  the  Army,  and  would  be  continued  as 
long  as  occasion  called  for  them.  Dr.  JSTewberry 
telegraphed,  at  once,  to  the  depots  of  the  Commission 
at  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and  Pittsburg,  and, 
within  one  month,  fifteen  thousand  bushels  of  vege 
tables  were  gathered  from  a  portion  of  the  country  in 
which  the  Government  had  been  unable  to  obtain  any 
by  purchase,  and  were  sent  forward  to  the  Army.  Thus 
an  impending  disaster  was  averted,  and  the  claim  of 
the  Commission,  to  be  the  grand  medium  of  commu 
nication  between  the  homes  of  the  country  and  the  suf 
fering  of  the  Army,  received  a  new  and  most  striking- 
vindication.  Perhaps  a  more  remarkable  illustration, 
both  of  the  need  of  supplemental  voluntary  aid  in  the 

*  See  Treatise  on  Military  Surgery  and  Hygiene  by  Frank  H.  Hamilton,  M. 
D.  late  Medical  Inspector,  U.  S.  A. 


328  UNITED   STATES   SANITAEY   COMMISSION. 

care  of  an  Army  and  the  practicability  of  doing  by 
proper  organization  on  a  large  scale,  what  the  Gov 
ernment  by  its  utmost  efforts,  through  its  ordinary 
agencies,  had  failed  to  do,  was  not  afforded  during  the 
progress  of  the  war.  General  Rosecrans,  so  far  from 
hesitating  to  accept  the  invaluable  aid  tendered  to  him 
in  this  irregular  and  extra-official  way,  facilitated,  in 
every  manner,  the  transportation  of  these  gifts  of  the 
people,  to  his  Army.  He  ordered  his  Superintendent 
of  railroads  to  transport  without  delay  such  vegetables 
as  the  Agents  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  might 
desire  to  send.  In  a  very  few  days  after  the  first  re 
quisition  had  been  made,  a  shipment  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  barrels  of  potatoes,  which  had  been  con 
tributed  by  the  Commission's  branch  at  Pittsburg, 
reached  the  Army  at  Murfreesboro  and  were  at  once 
distributed  to  the  Hospitals.  Writing  on  the  16th  of 
April,  Mr.  M.  C.  Read,  the  Commission's  Inspector,  says, 

"  You  can  say  unhesitatingly  to  the  donors  at  Pitts- 
burg  that,  by  this  one  shipment,  setting  aside  all  ques 
tions  of  humanity,  they  have  done  more  to  increase 
the  efficient  fighting  strength  of  the  Army  than  they 
would  have  done  by  securing  a  full  regiment  of  new 
recruits.  Let  the  supplies  continue  to  come  in  as  they 
have  come  for  the  last  few  days,  and  the  scurvy,  which 
has  begun  to  show  itself  in  very  many  of  the  regi 
ments,  will  quickly  disappear,  and  regiments  of  sturdy, 
stalwart  men  will  be  saved  to  the  service  at  a  very 
small  part  of  the  cost  of  recruiting  untried  men  to  fill 
their  places." 

To  each  Field  Hospital,  as  the  supplies  came  in 
more  abundantly,  eight  barrels  of  potatoes,  per  diem. 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  329 

were   furnished,  besides   such  a  supply  of  Farmers  °f  the 

1    J  West    called 

other  vegetables,  pickles,  sauer-kraut,  etc.,  upon  for 


as  the   varying  amount  of  stock  on  hand        °l 


would  permit.  The  other  Hospitals  and  the  Regiments 
in  camp  also  received  their  due  proportion  of  these  in 
valuable  anti-scorbutics.  The  result  which  was  antici 
pated  did  not  fail  soon  to  manifest  itself.  Writing  on  the 
8th  of  June,  the  same  faithful  Inspector  says,  "  The  ex 
ternal  manifestations  of  scurvy  have  nearly  all  disap 
peared.  The  supply  of  vegetables  distributed  has  greatly 
improved  the  health  and  efficiency  of  this  Army.  No 
greater  amount  of  good  was  ever  accomplished  in  so 
short  a  time,  and  at  an  expense  comparatively  so  slight." 
The  shipment  of  these  articles  was  kept  up  during  the 
whole  summer,  and  their  distribution  was  attended 
with  increasing  beneficial  results.  Every  means  was 
taken  to  keep  alive  public  attention  and  sympathy 
throughout  the  West  concerning  this  great  want  of  the 
Army.  Every  farmer  was  called  upon  by  circulars 
and  appeals  in  the  newspapers  to  send  forward  his 
surplus  stock  for  the  use  of  the  soldier,  and  even  chil 
dren  were  asked  to  cultivate  a  portion  of  their  gardens 
with  special  reference  to  a  constant  demand  for  this 
particular  purpose. 

"  While  laboring  to  supply  vegetables  for  the  im 
mediate  wants  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland 
in  the  early  Spring,  it  was  understood  Hospital  Gar. 
that  the  supply  from  the  North  would  dens- 
in  a  few  months  fail,  and  that  in  the  last  months 
of  summer  the  sick  in  that  Department  would  be 
unsupplied,  unless  vegetables  should  be  raised  within 
it  for  their  use.  In  the  whole  region  occupied 

42 


330          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

by  the  Army,  the  country  was  almost  a  desert, 
and  no  dependence  could  be  placed  upon  purchasing 
supplies  of  citizens.  Vegetables  could  not  be  bought, 
they  must  be  raised.  Reliance,  then,  could  only  be 
placed  upon  hospital  gardens,  and  to  secure  these,  the 
cordial  co-operation  of  the  medical  and  military  au 
thorities  with  the  Commission  was  essential.  This  was 
readily  secured,  and  the  work  was  commenced  in  the 
neighborhood  of-  the  General  Field  Hospital,  at  Mur- 
freesboro.  This  Hospital  was  situated  under  the  guns 
of  the  fortifications,  and  in  the  neck  of  a  peninsula 
formed  by  Stone  River:  the  peninsula  comprising 
some  thirty-five  acres  of  excellent  land,  well  adapted 
to  the  growth  of  garden  vegetables.  This  was  imme 
diately  put  under  cultivation,  protected  from  the  in 
trusion  of  vagrant  animals,  and  was  soon  wholly  occu 
pied  by  growing  crops  ;  as  was  also  some  ten  or  fifteen 
acres  subsequently  enclosed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river.  The  Sanitary  Commission  furnished  seeds  and 
garden  tools,  and  about  thirty  thousand  plants, 
purchased  in  Louisville  and  Cincinnati ;  and  its  agents 
exercised  a  general  supervision  over  the  work.  The 
labor  was  performed  by  contrabands  and  convales 
cents,  under  the  superintendence  of  a  practical 
gardener.  The  ladies  of  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Society,  of 
Northern  Ohio,  sent  forward  a  fine  supply  of  flowering 
plants  and  seeds,  to  aid  in  ornamenting  the  hospital 
grounds ;  and  in  all  respects  the  garden  was  soon  a 
complete  success.  The  convalescents  derived  substan 
tial  benefits  from  the  healthful  exercise  secured,  and 
soon  enjoyed  an  abundant  supply  of  beets,  onions, 
carrots,  turnips,  tomatoes,  Irish  and  sweet  potatoes, 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  331 

cabbages,  peas,  beans,  sweet  corn,  melons,  squashes, 
cucumbers,  and  all  the  other  ordinary  products  of  a 
vegetable  garden." 

A  similar  work  was  accomplished  at  Nashville,  and 
these  two  gardens  furnished  a  full  supply  of  vegetables 
for  the  hospitals  of  the  department  during  that  part 
of  the  season  in  which  they  could  not  be  supplied 
from  the  North.  Mr.  M.  C.  Read,  writing  from 
Murfreesboro  on  June  5th,  says :  "I  visited  the 
Field  Hospital  and  garden  yesterday.  The  garden 
is  in  good  condition.  The  patients  all  have  onions 
from  it  three  times  a  week  now,  and  yesterday  all 
had  green  peas." 

The  wonderful  success  of  this  experiment  of  estab 
lishing  gardens  for  the  use  of  the  Hospitals  at  Nash 
ville  and  Murfreesboro  led  the  Commission  later  in  the 
war,  to  provide  fresh  vegetables  for  the  troops,  by  the 
same  means  at  Chattanooga,  Knoxville  and  Newberne 
in  North  Carolina.  These  gardens  became  a  peculiar 
and  distinguishing  feature  of  Army  life  in  those  remote 
and  wasted  districts,  and  thus  by  constant  labor 
readily  supplied  by  the  Military  Authorities,  and  with 
a  favoring  climate,  abundant  and  wholesome  food  was 
provided,  not  only  for  the  sick,  but  for  those  also  who 
needed  a  properly  varied  diet  to  maintain  them  in 
vigorous  health  and  activity. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1862,  the  army  of  the 
Tennessee  under  General  Grant,  entered  upon  a 
campaign,  the  objective  point  of  which  was  Movements  of 

,,  /.   -TT-    i     i  ,     -Tt/r  i   •        General  Grant's 

the   capture  of  Vicksburg.      At  Memphis,  army. 

the  troops  were  embarked  on  transports,  and  were  sent 

down   the   river   to  a  point  in  the  neighborhood  of 


332  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

Vicksburg.  After  an  unsuccessful  assault  of  the  works 
at  that  place  they  were  forced  to  lead  a  life,  for  several 
months,  in  a  condition  exceedingly  unfavorable  to  the 
preservation  of  their  health  and  vigor.  During  that 
period,  General  Grant  made  no  less  than  five  unsuc 
cessful  attempts  to  place  his  Army  in  the  rear  of 
Vicksburg.  That  portion  of  the  troops  engaged  in 
these  expeditions  suffered  terrible  hardships.  They 
were  forced  to  make  their  way  through  rivers  and 
swamps  and  bayous,  where  the  country  was  a  wild  and 
tangled  thicket,  and  where  the  navigation  was  impeded 
by  overhanging  and  interlacing  trees,  which  often 
locked  and  wedged  in  the  boats.  The  severest  labor 
was  required  to  clear  away  the  obstacles  which  hindered 
the  progress  of  these  expeditions,  and  all  the  efforts 
of  the  Army  were,  at  last,  rendered  unavailing  by  the 
characteristic  tactics  of  the  rebels,  who,  striking  at  its 
rear,  endeavored  to  block  the  way  to  its  return. 
Crowded  on  ill-arranged  and  worse-ventilated  steam 
ers,  surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  filled  with  mias 
matic  poison,  the  depressing  effect  of  the  defeat  before 
Yicksburg,  and  the  ill  success  of  these  expeditions 
produced,  as  was  natural,  a  gradual  decay  of  that 
spirit  and  energy  which  had  hitherto  characterized 
the  conquering  army  of  the  Tennessee.  The  long  de 
lay  necessary  to  perfect  the  plans  which,  carried  out 
afterwards,  resulted  in  the  glorious  termination  of  the 
campaign  by  the  capture  of  Vicksburg,  thus  affected 
seriously  the  moral  as  well  as  the  physical  condition 
of  the  men.  But  all  felt  that  the  interests  at  stake 
were  too  vast  to  be  abandoned  until  every  possible 
effort  had  been  made  to  secure  the  prize  and  with  per- 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  333 

feet  reliance  on  the  indomitable  will  and  fertile  re 
sources  of  its  great  Commander,  the  Army  waited 
patiently  until  he  should  lead  it  to  victory. 

During  these  dreary  months,  the  Commission  felt 
that  the  troops  were  in  peculiar  need  of  a  certain  class 
of  supplies,  which,  if  freely  distributed,  £££  <* 
would  materially  assist  in  restoring  their  that  Army,  GO- 
strength,  impaired  by  a  combination  of  J^^^t 
unfavorable  circumstances  by  which  they  were  sur 
rounded.  Dr.  Newberry,  its  Western  Secretary,  was 
indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to  send  forward,  from 
Louisville,  upon  steamers  chartered  by  him  for  that 
purpose,  the  stores  which  had  been  accumulated  there, 
contributed  by  the  people  of  the  Western  States  for 
the  relief  of  their  brethren  struggling  for  the  control  of 
their  great  fiver.  In  this  way  he  succeeded  in  trans 
porting,  from  January  to  July,  1863,  to  the  army  be 
fore  Vicksburg,  nearly  fifteen  thousand  packages. 
The  extent  of  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  that 
army,  by  these  timely  supplies,  can  only  be  estimated 
by  considering  the  influence  on  despondent,  dispirited, 
and  ill-provided  men,  of  gifts  which  not  only  relieved 
their  bodily  wants,  but  had  the  powerful  additional 
effect  of  testifying  to  the  constant  interest  and  un 
wearied  care  of  those  at  home.  In  this  good  work 
the  Commission  was  cordially  encouraged  and  assisted 
by  General  Grant,  whose  humane  consideration  for  the 
troops  under  his  command  has  always  been  only  less 
conspicuous,  than  the  masterly  ability  with  which  he 
has  led  them  in  battle.  By  an  order  dated  in  March, 
1863,  he  directed  the  Quartermaster  to  turn  over  to 
the  Commission  a  suitable  steamboat  to  be  called  the 


334  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

"United  States  Sanitary  Storeboat,"  which  should  be 
used  exclusively  by  it  for  the  conveyance  to  the  Army 
of  such  articles  as  would  be  calculated  to  prevent 
disease.  He  directed  also,  with  a  genuine  appreciation 
of  the  true  spirit  of  the  Commission,  that  no  goods 
should  be  transported  on  this  steamer  unless  they 
were  intended  for  the  use  of  all  the  soldiers,  without 
any  distinction  except  such  as  was  founded  on  their 
relative  needs.  By  an  unusual  and  exceptional  order, 
he  directed  that  the  Sanitary  Commission  of  all  the 
Agencies  employed  in  Army  relief,  should  alone  be 
provided  with  free  transportation,  thus  clearly  indi 
cating  not  merely  his  approval  of  its  methods,  but 
also  his  conviction  that  it  was  fully  able  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  suffering.  He  thus  showed  a  wise  fore 
sight  in  preparing  his  men  for  the  severe  and  exhaust 
ing  campaign  in  which  he  proposed  to  lead  them;  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  extraordinary  vigor 
and  success  which  characterized  the  operations  of  the 
Army  during  the  five  weeks  in  which  it  was  cut  loose 
from  its  base  of  supplies,  and  its  transportation  of 
stores  was  necessarily  reduced  to  the  minimum  stand 
ard,  was,  in  no  small  degree,  attributable  to  the  zeal  he 
had  exhibited  in  caring  for  its  sanitary  interests  before 
it  entered  upon  it. 

During  this  campaign  the  Army  marched  through 
a  country  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  rendered 
mtrtr^und  almost  ^passable  by  swamp  and  jungle  for 
vicksburg,  a  distance  of  nearly  seventy  miles,  then, 
crossing  the  river,  they  moved  north  by  rapid  marches, 
fought  six  important  battles,  in  all  of  which  they  were 
victorious,  and  finally  reached  a  point  in  the  rear  of 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  335 

Vicksburg,  whence  they  were   able   to  communicate 
with  their  depots.     The  number  of  grave  cases  in  the 
Army  Hospitals,  as  the  result  of  these  brilliant  opera 
tions,  scarcely  exceeded  one  thousand.     Well  might 
the  enthusiastic  Inspector  of  the  Commission  at  Vicks 
burg,  in  view  of  this  wonderful  result,  declare  "that 
its  operations,  in  preparing  that  Army  for  that  cam 
paign,  had  modified  history!"     The  gratitude  of  the 
men  especially,  when  they  had  established  once  more 
communication  with  their  base  of  operations  by  their 
circuit  around  Vicksburg  was  unbounded,  and  found 
expression   in   many   letters  of  their   officers   to   the 
Agents  of  the  Commission.     "When   I  told  them," 
(the  soldiers)  says  Chaplain  Eddy,  of  the  Thirty-third 
Illinois  Regiment,  "I  had  got  from  you  ice,  dried  and 
canned  fruits,  lemons,  spirits,  shirts,  drawers,  slippers, 
sheets,  bedticks,  etc.,  etc.,  to  make  them  comfortable, 
some  of  them  have  said, 4  God  bless  the  Commission!' — 
others  would  say  'good/  and  others  would  use  the  very 
expressive  phrase,  'bully!'     I  have  been  in  the  service 
nearly  two  years,  and  am  glad  to  say,  our  sick  were 
never  so  well  cared  for  as  now,  and  it  is  due  to  you  to 
say,  that  we  are  indebted  almost  exclusively  to  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission  for  the  means  of 
making  them  comfortable."     Another  of  them,  Sur 
geon  Hill,  in  charge  of  a  Division  Hospital  of    the 
Twentieth    Army    Corps,    writes, — "The    battles    of 
Thompson's  Hill,  Raymond,  Jackson,  and  Champion's 
Hill,   more   than   exhausted   the   limited  supplies  of 
regimental  surgeons,  so  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
Sanitary  Commission,  who  met  our  victorious  army 
as  we  arrived  at  Haines'  Bluff,  the  sufferings  of  our 


336  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

wounded  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  would  have  been 
far  greater  than  they  have  been.  The  wounded  have 
been  cheered  and  made  contented,  and  many  have 
been  saved  beyond  all  question." 

The  peculiar  condition,  physical  and  moral,  of  the 
troops,  after  they  had  gone  through  the  short  but 
glorious  campaign  which  terminated  in  the  investment 
of  Vicksburg  on  the  land  side,  is  well  described  by  Dr. 
Warriner  in  a  report  to  the  Western  Secretary,  dated 
the  23d  of  June: 

"I  have  been  occupied  for  the  last  week  with  such 
inspections  as  circumstances  would  permit  of  the  troops 
Eeport  of  Dr,  engaged  in  the  trenches.  They  are  all 
Wamner,  clustered  in  the  ravines,  and  on  the  slopes 
of  the  hills  descending  from  the  city.  A  portion 
of  the  line  now  rests  on  the  very  slopes  crested 
by  the  rebel  works.  The  air  in  the  ravines  is 
most  of  the  time  still,  hot  and  stifling.  They  live 
half  buried  in  the  ground  for  protection  against 
the  missiles  of  the  enemy.  The  springs  on  the 
slopes  and  toward  the  summits  of  the  hills  begin 
to  flag,  and  the  principal  dependence  is  now  upon 
the  water  in  the  bottoms  of  the  ravines.  This  nat 
urally  grows  more  and  more  impure  from  the  drainage 
of  extensive  camping  grounds,  besides  growing  gradu 
ally  less  in  quantity.  In  short,  the  surroundings  of  a 
large  force  thus  situated,  and  occupied,  are  decidedly 
unsanitary.  No  one  expects  this  state  of  things  to 
continue  many  days  longer,  however,  and,  as  the  regi 
ments  are  successively  relieved  from  time  to  time,  no 
considerable  mischief  has  yet  resulted  from  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  sickness  is  increasing  slowly,  especially 


WAEFAKE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  337 

intermittent  fever  and  its  allied  ailments.  This  in 
crease  does  not  confine  itself  to  troops  in  the  trenches. 
It  is  doubtless  in  part  but  the  consummation  of  effects 
that  have  been  daily  preparing  from  the  commence 
ment  of  the  campaign.  The  excitement  which  has 
held  the  entire  army  up  to  such  a  key  of  resistance  for 
these  many  weeks  as  to  enable  it  to  cope  with  both 
visible  and  invisible  foes,  is  slightly  on  the  decline. 
The  men  are  sure  of  their  prey.  Nobody  doubts  for  a 
moment  the  result.  No  one  expresses  discontent  or 
discouragement.  Add  to  this  the  fact  that  an  abnor 
mal  tension  of  brain  and  nerve  must  of  necessity 
exhaust  itself  at  length,  and  one  almost  wonders  that 
the  keen  edge  held  so  long.  Men  obey  orders  now 
with  a  patient  rather  than  exultant  courage.  An 
order  to  storm  would  change  this  suddenly  enough, 
but  meanwhile  malaria  and  rather  unwholesome  lodg 
ings  and  unwholesome  water,  (in  many  cases,)  are 
beginning  to  show  their  legitimate  effects.  I  could 
not  but  notice  that  the  men  in  the  rifle-pits  and  at 
work  on  the  entrenchments  wore  a  slightly  jaded  look, 
and  were  stimulated  by  their  momentous  and  perilous 
labors  barely  enough  to  exercise  the  necessary  caution 
for  their  own  protection." 

Immediately   after   the   news  was   received  of  the 
achievements  of  Grant's  Army,  the  profoundest  admi 


ration  and  sympathy  were  evervwhere  ex-  Va8t 

J  -,  •  i    tions  of  supplies 

pressed  tor   these   heroes,   and  a  universal  for   the  Amy 
desire  was  manifested,  throughout  the  West  ™  °f 


especially,  to  testify  a  grateful  appreciation  of  their 
services    by    providing    them  •  at    once    with     such 

43 


338  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

articles  of  comfort  as  they  were  supposed  to  be  most 
in  need  of. 

"Pittsburg,  whose  Commission  has  from  the  hour 
of  its  establishment  acted  with  great  energy,  for 
warded  five  hundred  barrels  of  potatoes,  and  many 
other  choice  stores,  stimulants,  etc. 

"  Cleveland,  the  presence  of  whose  noble  Aid  Society 
has  been  felt  through  its  generous  contributions,  as  a 
benediction,  on  almost  every  field  of  suffering  since 
the  war  began,  sent  four  hundred  packages, — and 
Buffalo  showed  her  earnest  and  patriotic  spirit  in  a 
very  timely  donation. 

"  The  Cincinnati  Branch  fitted  out  a  fine  steamer,  the 
Alice  Dean,  with  seven  hundred  packages  and  a  full 
corps  of  surgeons  and  nurses. 

"The  New  Albany  Branch  sent  a  liberal  supply  by 
the  steamer  Atlantic. 

"  Davenport,  Iowa,  Quincy  and  Alton,  Illinois,  vied 
with  each  other  in  loading  the  Sanitary  Steamer  Dun- 
leith,  which  at  that  time  was  on  the  upper  Mississippi, 
having  gone  there  to  obtain  a  cargo  of  stores. 

"  At  Louisville  a  public  meeting  was  held  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Kentucky  Branch,  and  six  thousand 
dollars  were  contributed  by  the  citizens.  The  Governor 
of  the  State,  through  an  admirable  representative,  J.  B. 
Temple,  Esquire,  paid  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission,  and  expressed  his  desire 
and  purpose  to  make  it  the  medium  of  conveying  the 
State's  contribution  to  the  brave  soldiers  of  the  Union. 
The  Jacob  Strader,  the  largest  and  finest  boat  on  the 
river,  was  chartered  by  Dr.  Newberry,  and  most  gen 
erously  loaded  with  ice,  vegetables,  fruits,  garments, 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY. 


339 


and  other  things  adapted  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the 
sick  and  wounded.  Dr.  Andrew  was  in  charge  of  her, 
assisted  by  fifteen  surgeons  and  attendants. 

"The  Chicago  Branch  acted  with  its  usual  prompt 
ness,  and  had  a  large  contribution  ready  for  the  Strader 
on  her  arrival  at  Cairo."* 

In  reviewing  the  vast  operations  of  the  Commission 
in  this  Department  of  the  Army,  and  in  recalling  the 
extraordinary  success  attending  them,  it  is  c^™0*61  and 

J  services   of  the 

impossible  to  over-estimate  the  value  of  the  Commission's 
hearty    cooperation    of    the    Commanding  bl^ts 
General,  and  the  facilities  which  were  afforded  by  him 
for  the  full  development  of  his  plans.     This  was  due 

*  The  following  table  will  show  the  nature  and  amount  of  articles  issued 
from  the  Commission's  depot, 'at  or  near  Vicksburg,  to  the  Army  of  the  Ten 
nessee  during  the  four  months  ending  September  1st,  1863.  This,  it  will  be 
remembered,  does  not  include  the  supplies  distributed  from  the  commencement 
of  the  expedition  until  it  entered  upon  its  great  campaign  in  May  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Grand  Gulf. 


Groceries 2,360  pounds. 

Wines  and  Liquors 2,833  bottles. 

Butter 5,839  pounds. 

Apple  Butter 30  gallons. 

Eggs 2,476  dozen. 

Pickles 5,409  gallons. 

Molasses 85     " 

Sauer-Kraut 1,532     " 

Potatoes 7,596  bush. 

Ale  and  Cider 3,139  gallons. 

Ice 47,367  pounds. 

Crackers 26,517        " 

Codfish 13,593 

Corn  Meal 2,485        " 

Tea 1,589        " 

Relishes 662  bottles. 

Lemons 25,200 

Hospital  Furniture 2,162  articles. 

Fans 4,700 

Crutches 65  pairs. 


Mattresses 199 

Spices 2,690  papers. 

Comforts 2,429 

Pillows 4,357 

Sheets 9,029 

Drawers 13,230  pairs. 

Farina 2,125  pounds. 

Sago,  etc 2,022         " 

Bed  Sacks 1,121 

Pillow  Cases 6,511 

Shirts 7,909 

Dressing  gowns 746 

Socks 4,218  pairs. 

Slippers 1,504     " 

Bandages 50  bands. 

Fruit 7,330  cans. 

Dried  Fruit 45, 205  pounds. 

Dried  Beef 1,496        " 

Condensed  Milk 11,282  cans. 


340  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

not  only  to  the  recognized  ability  of  the  Commission 
to  perform  the  work  which  it  had  undertaken,  and  to 
the  broad  national  principle  it  adopted  in  the  distribu 
tion  of  the  bounty  of  the  people,  but  also,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  the  very  remarkable  zeal,  capacity,  and 
judgment  of  the  Agents  employed  by  it.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  speak  in  too  high  terms  of  praise  of  the 
faithful  and  devoted  service  of  these  officers.  Dr. 
Warriner,  the  Chief  Inspector,  and  his  Assistants,  ex 
hibited  in  the  highest  degree  qualities  which  are  as 
rare  as  they  are  essential  to  the  success  of  a  work  like 
this,  and  the  truly  humane  spirit  wrhich  animated  them 
in  their  difficult  and  delicate  task,  made  them,  in  the 
highest  sense,  exponents  of  the  noble  and  generous 
policy  which  guided  the  Commission  in  all  its  work. 
In  such  an  exhausting  service,  their  health,  of  course, 
was  imperiled  and,  in  some  cases,  utterly  broken. 
After  the  capture  of  Vicksburg,  all  the  Agents  were 
prostrated  by  disease,  and  it  was  necessary  to  remove 
them  for  a  time  from  the  field  of  their  arduous  labors. 
The  great  interest  in  military  operations  in  the 
West  after  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  centres  in  the 
Supplies  to  the  campaigns  of  Chattanooga  and  Atlanta. 

garrisons  on  the  ° 

Mississippi  The  rebels  had  lost  the  Mississippi  River, 
*  an(i  despairing  of  any  hope  of  regaining  its 


control,  combined  all  their  efforts  in  the  vain  attempt 
to  prevent  the  advance  of  the  conquering  National 
army  into  Georgia.  It  was  necessary,  however,  for  us 
to  retain  a  considerable  force  on  points  on  the  Missis 
sippi  and  its  affluents,  in  order  to  keep  the  navigation 
of  those  rivers  free  from  interruption.  These  points, 
unfortunately,  were  among  the  most  unhealthy  to  be 


WARFARE   AGAINST   SCURVY.  341 

found  along  their  whole  course,  and  the  recruits  from 
the  North  stationed  at  them,  sank  rapidly  from  mala 
rial  fevers,  and  from  diseases  caused  by  defective 
nutrition.  Scurvy,  simple,  or  complicating  all  the  dis 
eases  which  attacked  the  men,  prevailed  to  an  alarm 
ing  extent  in  these  garrisons.  The  only  suitable  reme 
dial  means  were  vegetables,  either  fresh  or  pickled  in 
vinegar,  and  these  the  Commission  endeavored  to 
supply.  The  steamer  DunleitJi  was  still  in  its  service, 
and  was  kept  plying  constantly  between  Cairo  and 
New  Orleans.  From  the  storehouse  at  Cairo  she  re 
ceived  immense  cargoes  of  the  needed  articles  contri 
buted  principally  by  the  Branches  in  the  North-west, 
and  distributed  them  to  the  naval  vessels  on  the  Mis 
sissippi,  and  to  the  posts  on  that,  and  the  White  and 
Arkansas  Rivers.  In  this  way  the  hospitals  at  Mem 
phis,  Vicksburg,  Natchez,  Helena,  Duval's  Bluff,  Little 
Rock,  Pine  Bluff,  Brownsville,  and  Fort  Smith  were 
supplied,  and  whatever  remained,  was  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  Commission's  Agents  in  New  Orleans. 
This  relief,  small  as  it  was  relatively  in  point  of 
amount,  was  of  incalculable  service  to  the  wretched 
and  suffering  men  at  these  remote  posts,  who  found, 
that  even  in  that  desolate  region,  they  were  not  for 
gotten  by  those  at  home,  and  were  not  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  Agencies  they  had  provided  for  minis 
tering  to  them. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
CHATTANOOGA. 

IN  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of  June,  1863,  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland  under  General  Rosecrans, 
The  Amy  of  the  set  out  from  Murfreesboro',  the  objective  of 
LUv7sbrouathd  the  campaign  being  Chattanooga.  In  order 
ward,  to  reach  that  point  it  was  necessary,  not 

only  that  it  should  defeat  the  large  and  well  appointed 
Rebel  army  of  General  Bragg,  entrenched  in  positions 
of  his  own  choosing  in  the  vast  mountain  range  which 
guarded  the  approach  from  the  North,  but  also  that  a 
safe  line  of  communication  with  its  base  of  supplies 
should  be  secured.  If  this  supply  question  had  been 
a  difficult  one,  while  the  Army  was  stationary  at  Mur- 
freesboro',  those  difficulties  were  increased  in  almost 
geometrical  progression  as  it  moved  southward.  There 
was  but  one  badly  constructed  railroad  between  Mur- 
freesboro'  and  Chattanooga,  and  from  this  the  enemy 
must  be  dislodged,  and  it  must  then  be  repaired  and 
securely  held,  for  it  was  the  only  channel  by  which  the 
supplies  of  the  Army  could  reach  it.  The  country 
between  these  two  points  was  a  continuous  succession 
of  mountain  ranges,  utterly  barren  of  food  for  man  or 
beast,  and  with  no  roads  which  would  permit  the  pas 
sage  of  a  large  army  with  its  supply  trains.  One  who 
explored  this  region,  after  it  had  been  made  memo 
rable  by  Rosecrans'  great  campaign,  thus  describes  it: 

342 


CHATTANOOGA.  343 

"From  near  Tullahoma  to  Chattanooga,  the  whole 
interval  is  occupied  with  mountains  of  formidable 
height,  terminating  laterally  in  precipitous  escarpe- 
ments,  separated  by  deep  and  narrow  valleys,  over 
which  even  a  footman  finds  his  way  painful  and  peril 
ous.  In  justice  to  those  who  planned  and  executed  the 
military  movements  prior  and  preparatory  to  the  late 
victories,  I  must  say  that  our  people  of  the  Northern 
States  have  no  proper  appreciation  of  what  our  Army 
has  done  and  suffered  in  reaching  and  holding  Chatta 
nooga,  and  I  am  sure  if  all  could  see  what  I  have  seen, 
of  difficulties  overcome,  hardships  endured,  and  priva 
tions  so  cheerfully  suffered,  there  would  be  much  less 
than  there  has  been,  of  flippant  criticism  of  the  sol 
diers  and  Generals  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland." 

As  difficulties  of  transportation  were  the  great  diffi 
culties  of  this  movement — so  great  indeed  as  to  threaten 
at  one  time  its  disastrous  termination — it  Materiel  of  the 
may  be  well  to  consider  for  a  moment  the 
materiel  of  which  a  large  army  is  made  up. 
In  this  way,  perhaps,  we  may  be  able  to  form  some 
adequate  conception  of  what  it  requires  to  move  it. 
The  Army  of  General  Rosecrans  was  composed  of 
about  eighty  thousand  effective,  fighting  men.  Ac 
companying  it  were  forty-two  hundred  wagons,  and 
six  hundred  ambulances.  There  were  twenty-two 
thousand  artillery  horses,  three  thousand  private 
horses,  and  thirty-six  thousand  mules,  in  all  sixty-one 
thousand  animals,  requiring,  of  course,  for  their  sub 
sistence  immense  supplies  of  food.  If  the  Army  had 
been  stretched  out  in  line,  four  abreast,  with  the  usual 
distance  of  six  feet  between  the  ranks,  that  line  would 


344          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

have  been  nearly  twenty-four  miles  long ;  the  wagons 
with   their   teams   would   have  extended   forty-seven 
miles,    and   the   artillery   and    the   ambulances   with 
their  horses  would  have  reached  nearly  five  miles  fur 
ther.     This  calculation  makes  no  allowance  for  the 
cavalry,  of  which   there  was  a  large  force  with  the 
Army.     From  this  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
daily  consumption  of  food  by  the  men,  the  horses,  and 
the  mules,  must  have  been  enormous.     Nearly  every 
pound  of  this   food  was  brought  from   Louisville,  a 
distance  of  nearly  three  hundred  miles,  and  as  the 
stock  carried  in  the  wagons  of  the  Army  could  suffice 
for  a  few  days'  consumption  only,  it  was  necessary  to 
keep  up  a  continuous  stream  of  supply  from  the  de 
pots  at  the  base  to  the  Army  in  the  field.     Besides  all 
this,  the  ordnance  stores,  necessary  to  maintain  the 
Army  in  condition  for  constant  and  effective  service, 
were  necessarily  very  large,  and  their  transportation 
required  means  of  corresponding  magnitude.     So  vast, 
indeed,  was  the  amount  of  supplies  of  all  kinds  needed 
for  the  use  of  the  Army,  and  so  many  were  the  diffi 
culties  surrounding  an  attempt  to  transport  them  in 
the  enemy's  country,  that  it  became  a  serious  question 
with  those  upon  whom  the  responsibility  of  this  service 
rested,  whether  it  would  be  possible  in  the  face  of  such 
obstacles  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  campaign.     It 
is  well  known  that  the  Rebel  Authorities  relied  far 
more  upon  difficulties  like  these  as  a  means  of  pre 
venting  a  permanent  occupation  of  their  territory, than 
upon  the  chances  of  victory  in  battle.     It  is  well  to 
recall  the  embarrassments  which  beset  every  step  of 
the   progress   of    Rosecrans'   Army   towards   Chatta- 


CHATTANOOGA.  345 

nooga,  not  merely  to  excite  admiration  for  the  energy, 
skill  and  perseverance  by  which  they  were  overcome, 
but  also  to  explain  why,  necessarily,  during  that  cam 
paign  there  must  have  been  great  suffering  among 
those  who  needed  for  their  sustenance  anything  beyond 
what  are  called  "  fighting  rations." 

The  Medical  Authorities  took  with  them  on  the 
march  a  limited  supply  of  articles  for  the  sick 
but  where  the  question  was  soon  likely  to  Embarrassment 

ot  the  Medical 

be  how  to  avoid  actual  starvation,  of  course,  officers, 
no  space  could  be  given  up  for  any  reserve  or  surplus 
provision.  All  the  dangers  of  the  campaign  likely  to 
arise  from  the  interruption  of  the  line  of  communica 
tion  with  the  Army  had  been  fully  considered  and  care 
fully  guarded  against,  as  far  as  possible  by  the  Officers 
of  the  Quartermaster's  Department,  whose  services  in 
this,  as  in  so  many  campaigns  of  the  war,  insured  its 
success,  yet  after  all  the  precautions  had  been  taken,  it 
was  felt  that  the  movement  was  on  every  account,  one 
of  singular  peril.  The  failure  of  the  campaign  of 
General  Buell  in  this  mountain  region  the  year  be 
fore,  owing  mainly  to  the  impossibility  of  getting  for 
ward  supplies,  and  the  straitened  condition  of  this  very 
Army  of  Rosecrans  from  the  same  cause  after  it 
reached  Chattanooga,  fully  justified  the  fears  of  those 
who  were  deeply  impressed  with  the  danger  of  con 
ducting  military  operations  in  regions  far  remote  from 
supply  depots. 

Such  was  the  prospect  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumber 
land  when  it  marched  from  Murfreesboro'.  Bragg,  who 
was  strongly  intrenched  in  the  defiles  behind  Opening  of  the 
Duck  Creek,  awaited  the  assault,  but  Rose-  camPaisn- 


•u 


346          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

crans  completely  turned  his  position,  and  after  a  short 
fight  at  Shelbyville,  in  which  the  Union  loss  was  very 
light,  the  Rebels  retreated  to  Tullahoma.  This  place 
they  soon  abandoned  and  moved  to  Bridgeport,  in  Ala 
bama,  destroying,  in  their  retreat,  the  railroad  which 
connected  these  two  places.  Rosecrans,  after  being 
delayed  nearly  six  weeks  in  repairing  the  road,  indis 
pensable  as  his  line  of  supply,  followed  the  enemy, 
who  he  found,  had  given  up  Bridgeport,  and  had 
concentrated  at  Chattanooga.  Still  following  across 
the  mountains,  he  found  Chattanooga  abandoned,  and 
Bragg's  Army  in  close  proximity  at  Chickamauga. 
Here  on  the  19th  of  September  Rosecrans  assaulted 
him.  In  the  battle  which  ensued  a  portion  of  the 
Union  forces  was  broken  and  driven  in  confusion, 
and  although  General  Thomas,  with  the  remainder, 
well  sustained  his  high  reputation,  and  held  his  posi 
tion  at  the  close  of  the  battle,  yet  it  was  deemed  advi 
sable  to  withdraw  him  the  next  day,  and  to  concentrate 
the  Army  at  Chattanooga.  As  soon  as  this  was  accom 
plished,  the  Rebels  took  possession  of  the  heights  of 
Lookout  Mountain,  opposite  the  town.  This,  of  course, 
gave  them  control  of  the  railroad  to  Bridgeport,  and 
uncovered  entirely  Rosecrans'  line  of  communication 
with  his  supplies  at  that  place.  Meanwhile,  the  enemy 
sent  a  cavalry  force  across  the  Tennessee  River,  above 
Chattanooga  and  destroyed  an  immense  supply  train, 
including  seventeen  wagons  loaded  with  articles  be 
longing  to  the  Sanitary  Commission,  which  was  mov 
ing  down  the  Sequatchie  Valley  to  join  the  Army. 
The  railroad  between  Stevenson  and  Nashville  was 
also  broken  up  temporarily  by  the  enemy's  raids,  and 


CHATTANOOGA.  347 

thus  an  additional  obstacle  was  placed  in  the  way  of 
the  transportion  of  supplies. 

It  seems  necessary  to  give  the  details  of  these  opera 
tions  in  order  to  show  how  completely,  by  the  course 
of  events,  the  army  of  the  Cumberland  be-  Limited  supplies 

,       '          ,     ,  ™  ,     ,  after  the  battle 

came  blockaded  at  Chattanooga,  and   how 


limited,  in  such  a  condition  of  things,  must  necessarily 
have  been  its  means  of  relieving  the  ten  thousand 
wounded  men  who  claimed  its  care  after  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga.  For  one  month,  and  until  the  enemy 
were  driven  by  the  forces  under  General  Hooker  and 
General  W.  F.  Smith  from  those  positions  on  Lookout 
Mountain,  which  commanded  the  river  and  the  rail 
road,  the  Army  was  forced  to  subsist  on  the  rations 
which  had  been  brought  forward  by  that  portion  of  the 
supply  train  which  accompanied  its  march,  and  which 
were  intended  for  a  campaign  of  a  few  days  only. 
Half  and  quarter  rations  only  were  issued  to  the 
troops.  Ten  thousand  horses  and  mules  died  of  star 
vation;  the  distress  was  extreme,  and  just  before 
deliverance  came,  the  danger  of  famine  grew  so  immi 
nent  that  it  was  thought  necessary  to  make  preparation 
for  the  retreat  of  the  Army.  In  this  untoward  state 
of  events  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  Medical  Depart 
ment  labored  under  the  most  embarrassing  difficulties 
in  the  treatment  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  A  portion 
of  the  Sanitary  supply  -train,  composed  of  seven  wagons 
loaded  with  condensed  milk,  beef  stock,  rags,  band 
ages,  and  Hospital  clothing  reached  Chattanooga  with 
the  first  Army  train  which  arrived  there.  Three 
wagons  were  afterwards  got  through  with  great  diffi 
culty.  A  store-house  was  at  once  procured,  and 


348          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

arrangements  made  for  the  distribution  of  the  stores 
in  anticipation  of  the  battle  of  Chickamauga.  How 
opportune  this  distribution  was,  and  how  faithfully  the 
Commission's  agents  labored  in  this  hard  service,  is 
best  told  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  best  and  most 
zealous  of  them: — "Not  a  great  many  wounded  were 
sent  back  on  Saturday,  but  on  Sunday  they  came  in  in 
numbers,  far  beyond  the  ability  of  all  the  medical 
officers  to  provide  even  tolerably  for  their  comfort. 
At  the  request  of  the  Medical  Director,  Dr.  Barnum 
took  possesion  of  two  large  stores,  cleared  out  the 
rooms,  fitted  them  up  temporarily  for  the  wounded, 
supplying  them  with  clothing,  bandages,  and  edibles 
from  our  rooms,  procured  and  put  up  stores,  dressed 
the  wounds  of  those  most  requiring  immediate  assist 
ance,  and  superintended  the  providing  and  cooking  of 
rations  for  the  men.  All  of  the  rooms  were  soon  filled, 
and  by  his  untiring  efforts  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two 
thousand  were  rendered  tolerably  comfortable.  On 
Sunday,  I  visited  all  the  hospitals  and  temporary  rest 
ing-places  for  the  wounded,  notifying  the  officers  in 
charge  of  the  location  of  our  rooms  and  the  nature  of 
our  supplies,  asking  them  to  send  for  everything  we 
had,  so  far  as  it  was  needed.  Returning  late  in  the 
evening,  I  found  a  large  church  on  Main  street  where 
services  had  been  held  during  the  day,  and  saw  that 
the  steps  were  crowded  with  wounded  men.  Entering 
the  church,  it  was  found  filled  with  a  congregation 
from  the  battle-field,  crippled  with  every  variety  of 
wounds,  with  no  medical  or  other  officer  in  charge, 
without  food  of  any  kind,  without  water,  and  without 
even  a  candle  to  shed  a  glimmering  light  over  their 


CHATTANOOGA.  349 

destitution,  silent  worshippers  in  the  darkness,  patient 
unmurmuring  martyrs  in  a  noble  cause,  apparently 
deserted  by  all  except  Him  in  whose  sanctuary  they 
had  taken  refuge.  I  immediately  carried  concentrated 
beef  to  the  residence  of  Dr.  Simms,  near  the  church,  a 
resident  physician  of  rebel  sympathies,  but  a  generous, 
warm-hearted  man,  in  whose  office  we  had  some  days 
before  found  quarters,  and  where  my  brother  superin 
tended  the  preparation  of  soup,  while  I  bought  can 
dles  and  a  box  of  hard  bread,  had  them  carried  to  the 
church,  and  procuring  water,  distributed  it  to  the 
thirsty.  Never  before  had  I  so  high  an  appreciation 
of  'nature's  sweet  restorer,  balmy  sleep."1 

These  ten  wagon  loads  of  supplies  constituted  almost 
the  entire  dependence  of  the  Hospitals  until  the  Tuesday 
and  Wednesday  succeeding  the  battle,  when  m  afforded  by 
the  train  containing  a  portion  of  the  Medi-  the  v™™*™- 
cal  Purveyor's  stores  reached  "  the  front."  Immedi 
ate  measures  were  taken  to  secure  the  transportation  of 
a  further  supply  from  the  Commission's  depot  at  Steven 
son,  and,  after  the  most  strenuous  exertions,  seventeen 
wagons  were  loaded  and  despatched  from  that  place. 
These  were  the  wagons  which  were  afterwards  captured 
and  burned  by  the  enemy  in  the  Sequatchie  Valley.  The 
difficulties  of  forwarding  supplies  are  thus  described 
by  the  Chief  of  the  Commission's  service  at  Chatta 
nooga:  "By  the  destruction  of  the  bridge  at  Bridge 
port,  and  the  occupation  of  Lookout  Mountain  by  the 
rebels,  we  were  deprived  of  railroad  communication 
with  Chattanooga  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other 
were  cut  off  from  the  best  route  for  wagon  transporta 
tion.  Two  wagon  roads  over  the  Mountain  on  the 


350  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

North  side  of  the  Tennessee  River,  which  would  else 
where  and  under  other  circumstances  be  considered 
almost  impassable,  furnish  the  only  available  routes 
for  the  transportation  of  the  materiel  of  war,  the  sub 
sistence  of  troops,  etc.     This  has  very  much  impeded 
the  work  of  the  Commission  in  connection  with  the 
movements  of  the  Army  beyond  Bridgeport.      Not 
withstanding  that  every  effort  possible  has  been  made 
at  both  ends  of  the  route,  the  amount  of  transportation 
available  for  our  purposes,  has  been  far  short  of  the 
demand  upon  our  stores,  and  of  our  ability  otherwise 
to  meet  these  demands.     On  the  17th  ult.,  as  already 
mentioned,  seven  wagon-loads,  on  the  23d  three  wagon- 
loads,  and  on  the  26th  one  wagon-load,  and  on  the  29th 
fifteen  ambulance-loads  of  stores  were  all  that  could  be 
got  forward  to  the  'front'  during  the  month  of  Sep 
tember," 

In  order  to  provide  for  the  necessities  of  the  wounded 
on  their  weary  journey  over  the  mountains  from  Chat- 
Feeding  station  tan°oga  to  Stevenson,  the  Commission  esta- 
estabiished,  blished  a  Lodge  and  Feeding  Station  on 
the  route  of  the  ambulances  midway  between  the  two 
places.  The  privations  and  sufferings  of  those  on 
the  two  trains  which  had  already  gone  over  that 
dreaded  passage,  had  convinced  every  one  of  the  neces 
sity  of  the  Lodge.  It  was  expected  that  each  ambu 
lance  train  should  so  arrange  its  movements  as  to  stop 
at  that  point,  where  there  was  an  abundance  of  wood 
and  water,  and  of  wholesome,  palatable  food,  and 
of  kind  attention,  and  where  a  good  night's  rest 
was  provided  when  needed.  This  establishment 
proved  literally  a  "  Lodge  in  a  vast  wilderness"  to 


CHATTANOOGA.  351 

multitudes  of  sufferers,  who  had  been  racked  and  ex 
hausted  while  journeying  in  their  wounded  condition 
over  the  rough  roads  across  the  mountains. 

But  the  struggle  for  the  possession  of  Chattanooga 
was  not  yet  over.  In  order  to  hold  securely  and  per 
manently  this  great  mountain  citadel  it  was  The  battle  of 
necessary  to  drive  away  from  the  neighbor-  Chattanooga, 
hood  the  rebels,  who,  fully  sensible  of  the  value  of  the 
prize,  determined  to  make  us  pay  dearly  for  its  coveted 
possession.  The  Army  being  largely  reinforced,  with 
General  Grant  at  its  head,  and  supplies  arriving  regu 
larly,  and  with  some  degree  of  abundance,  it  was  de 
termined  to  make  a  grand  effort  to  decide  once  and 
forever,  who  should  hold  the  key  of  the  great  avenue 
of  communication  between  the  eastern  and  western 
portion  of  the  enemy's  territory.  Accordingly,  on 
the  22d  of  November,  our  forces  advanced,  General 
Hooker's  to  the  assault  of  Lookout  Mountain,  and 
General  Sherman's  to  that  of  Mission  Ridge.  Both  the 
assaults  were  successful,  and  if  the  battle  was  one  of 
the  most  glorious  for  the  Union  forces  which  occurred 
during  the  war,  the  defeat  to  the  Rebels  was,  with  the 
exception  of  the  utter  breaking  up  of  Lee's  Army, 
the  most  disastrous  ever  suffered  by  them.  The  bat 
tle  was  fought  close  by  the  intrenchments  of  Chatta 
nooga,  and  within  easy  distance  of  well-arranged  Hos 
pitals.  Every  provision  for  the  removal  and  care  of 
the  wounded  had  been  made  by  the  Medical  Authori 
ties.  There  was  little,  therefore,  for  the  Commission 
to  do,  but  that  little  was  well  done  under  the  eye  of 
the  Western  Secretary  himself,  who  happened  to  be 
present. 


352          UNITED   STATES  SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

After  this  great  victory  was  achieved,  the  combined 
Army,  under  General  Grant,  remained  in  a  condition 
Condition  of  the  of  comparative  repose  during  the  winter  of 
t^inletof  1863-4-      The   Army  of    the    Cumberland 
which  had  first  occupied  Chattanooga  was 
reinforced,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  heroes  of  Vicks- 
burg  under  General  Sherman,  and  by  a  portion  of 
those  of  Gettysburg,  each  of  these  immortal  and  deci 
sive  battle-fields,  sending  thus  its  representative  in 
long  tried  and  disciplined  veterans  to  take  part  in  that 
great  campaign  which  was  to  terminate  the  struggle. 
The  number  of  men  thus  concentrated  at  this  remote 
point  was,  of  course,  much  greater  than  it  had  been 
when  it  was  found  so  difficult  to  supply  the  Army  of 
General  Rosecrans  alone,  and  corresponding  exertions 
were  made  by  the  Officers  of  the  Quartermaster's  De 
partment  to  provide  for  the  increased  demand  for  food 
and  clothing.     There  was,  of  course,  less  liability  to 
interruption  of  the  line  of  communication  from  the 
enemy's  raids  than  there  had  been  previous  to  the  vic 
tory,  but  still  the  labor  required  to  supply  the  Army 
regularly  was  immense,  and  may  be  estimated  from  the 
fact   that  no  less  than  three  thousand  railroad  cars 
were  constantly  employed  in  transporting  from  Louis 
ville  to  Nashville  what  was  absolutely  necessary  to  its 
existence. 

The  physical  condition  of  the  Army  was  at  that  time 
in  many  respects  peculiar,  differing  wholly  from  that 

physTai  'condi!  °f  an*y  ***&  force  which  nad  entered  upon  a 
tionofthemen,  campaign  during  the  war,  and  the  supplies 
needed  to  maintain  it  in  strength  and  vigor,  and  to 
prepare  it  for  the  coming  conflict,  were  therefore  of  a 


CHATTANOOGA.  353 

somewhat  different  nature  from  those  that  had  been 
found  hitherto  essential.  There  were  few  raw  men  in 
this  Army.  Most  of  them  were  hardy  campaigners, 
inured  to  the  toils  and  privations  of  a  soldier's  life, 
habituated  to  discipline,  and  accustomed  to  take  care 
of  themselves.  The  element  of  physical  weakness 
which  had  existed  in  it,  as  in  all  newly  raised  Armies, 
had  been  rapidly  developed  by  the  extraordinary  ex 
posure  and  labor  which  it  had  been  called  upon  to 
undergo,  and  disease  and  death,  while  they  had  thinned 
its  ranks,  had  probably  contributed  to  its  real  efficiency. 
The  men  composing  it  had  all  the  vigor  of  veteran 
troops.  From  long  habit  they  could  be  relied  upon 
not  merely  for  steadiness  in  battle,  but  they  showed 
also  toughness  and  powers  of  endurance  on  the  march, 
passing  unharmed  through  all  the  dangers  attendant 
upon  changes  of  climate,  and  insufficient  food  and  shel 
ter.  The  wants,  therefore,  of  such  a  body  of  troops 
were  likely  to  be  very  different  from  those  of  new 
recruits.  Experience  had  also  perfected  many  of  the 
details  of  the  Army  organization  which  had  been 
wretchedly  mismanaged  at  the  outset.  This  improved 
condition  of  things,  as  it  affected  the  wants  of  the 
Army  and  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Govern 
ment  for  supplying  them,  had  been  carefully  observed 
by  the  Agents  of  the  Commission,  and  was  their  guide 
in  determining  the  amount  and  character  of  the  articles 
issued  by  them.  Nowhere  can  we  find  a  more  truth 
ful  and  striking  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  Army 
at  that  time  than  that  drawn  by  one  of  these  Agents, 
Mr.  M.  C.  Read,  whose  opportunities  for  observation 
were  only  equalled  by  the  zeal  and  fidelity  which  he 


354  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

exhibited  in  his  efforts  to  improve  them.  Writing  in 
June,  1864,  he  says :  "  Our  brave  soldiers  in  Chatta 
nooga  have  exhibited  the  highest  type  of  heroism. 
Inadequately  clothed,  many  without  blankets,  with 
leaking  tents  or  none  at  all,  on  half  or  quarter  rations 
of  the  coarsest  articles  of  army  diet  alone,  their  piti 
ful  allowance  of  hard-tack,  frequently  wet  and  mouldy, 
gathering  from  the  streets  the  scattered  grains  of  corn 
to  parch,  and  thus  eke  out  their  scanty  allowance,  en 
camped  in  a  sea  of  mud,  exposed  to  the  constant  fall 
rains,  without  fire,  their  encampment  a  daily  target 
for  the  enemy's  shells — their  confidence  in  their  cause 
and  in  their  commander  was  unshaken,  and  the  deter 
mination  to  endure  this  and  more  as  long  as  it  might 
be  necessary,  was  universal.  In  riding  through  the 
camps  complaints  and  murmuring  were  unheard,  and 
I  doubt  not  had  the  vote  of  the  soldiers  been  taken  in 
the  most  untoward  circumstances,  the  decision  would 
have  been  nearly  or  quite  unanimous  to  die  in  Chatta 
nooga  rather  than  abandon  it. 

"  After  the  battles  of  Chattanooga,  the  want  of  all 
means  of  transportation  rendered  another  period  of 
repose  inevitable  for  that  part  of  the  Army  which  was 
confronting  the  rebel  General  Johnson.  An  effort  was 
made  to  vary  the  hard  fare  of  the  soldiers  by  the  addi 
tion  of  potatoes,  pickles,  onions,  krout,  etc.  Never 
before  in  this  department  were  so  large  amounts  of 
these  articles  distributed  by  our  Commission.  They 
were  made  to  reach  the  entire  Army.  Larger  quanti 
ties  than  are  ordinarily  issued  were  forwarded  to  the 
Commission,  and  now  when  active  operations  are  re 
sumed,  and  our  hospitals  are  again  crowded  with 


CHATTANOOGA.  355 

wounded,  a  marked  change  in  the  physical  condition 
of  the  men  is  apparent.  Patients  are  rapidly  recover 
ing  from  wounds  here,  who  wounded  in  like  manner 
in  the  battles  of  November  would  have  certainly  died." 
The  great  enemy  in  the  form  of  disease,  against 
wrhich  the  Commission  struggled  most  persistently 
and  most  successfully  in  this  Army,  was  Prevalent  types 
that  which  exhibited  itself  in  scurvy  and  °fdisease- 
chronic  diarrhoea,  diseases  depending,  as  it  is  unne 
cessary  to  repeat,  almost  wholly  upon  the  character  of 
the  food  furnished  to  the  troops.  To  combat  this  enemy 
successfully  the  greatest  exertions  were  made,  and 
there  were  distributed  from  the  single  depot  at  Xash- 
ville  during  the  month  of  January,  1864,  three  thou 
sand  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  bushels  of  potatoes, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  bushels  of  onions,  eight 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-two  gallons  of  sauer 
kraut,  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  gal 
lons  of  pickles,  thirteen  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sixty-two  pounds  of  dried  fruit,  etc.,  all  antiscorbutics. 
During  the  succeeding  months  a  large  supply  of  vege 
tables,  the  produce  of  the  Hospital  gardens,  which, 
with  a  wise  prevision  of  coming  events,  the  Commis 
sion  had  established  at  Chattanooga,  aided  very  mate 
rially,  improving  the  diet  of  the  Army.* 

*  Summary  of  Issues  from  the  Hospital  Garden  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Com 
mission,  at  Chattanooga,  April  15th  to  November  14th,  1864 : 
Lettuce,  bushels,  1,289 ;  beets,  bushels,  1,563 ;  onions,  bushels,  1,407 ;  mus 
tard,  bushels,  1,496  ;  Irish  potatoes,  bushels,  904f ;  radishes,  bushels,  715 ;  peas, 
bushels,  442 ;  snap  beans,  bushels,  431 ;  lima  beans,  bushels,  148 ;  tomatoes, 
bushels,  1,269 ;  sweet  potatoes,  bushels,  384 ;  spinach,  bushels,  133 ;  turnips  and 
winter  radishes,  bushels,  7J;  cucumbers,  doz.,  2,693;  summer  squashes,  5,526; 
cabbage,  heads,  10,761;  table  corn,  ears,  107,562;  okra,  dozens,  177;  peppers, 
dozens,  958;  melons,  1,668  ;  winter  squash,  312 ;  pumpkins,  1,152;  flower  seeds, 
papers,  5,779 :  estimated  value  at  Chattanooga,  $66,375  70. 


356  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

During  the  campaign  in  Tennessee,  the  condition  of 
the  beleagured  forces  of  General  Burnside  at  Knox- 
f  to  the  ville  had  not  escaped  the  anxious  attention 
of  the  Western  Secretary.  Communication 
with  his  Army  was,  for  a  long  time,  simply  impossible. 
Watching  the  very  first  opportunity,  a  train  of  wagons 
was  despatched,  via  Cumberland  Gap,  laden  with 
Sanitary  stores,  and  after  meeting  incredible  difficulties, 
caused  by  the  condition  of  the  roads,  it  reached  Knox- 
ville  in  safety,  where  the  heroic  garrison  was  found 
destitute  of  almost  everything  in  the  way  of  clothing 
and  hospital  supplies/  The  siege,  however,  was  soon 
afterwards  terminated  by  the  events  at  Chattanooga. 
With  General  Sherman's  army,  which  was  sent  to 
General  Burnside's  succor,  the  Commission  despatched 
a  considerable  stock,  its  officers  being  ignorant,  at  the 
time,  that  the  stores  sent  to  Knoxville  by  the  northern 
route  had  already  reached  there.  A  Hospital  garden 
was  soon  after  established  at  Knoxville  by  the  Com 
mission,  and  although  it  was  not  so  large  as  those 
at  some  other  places,  its  products  were  of  incalculable 
benefit  to  the  troops  stationed  at  that  point. 

This  systematic  relief  of  the  wants  of  the  Armies 
engaged  in  active  campaigns  did  not  cause  the  Com- 
Oare  of  troops  m  mission  to  neglect  those  of  the  large  force  in 
e  ^eir  rear  w*10  were  guarding  their  commu- 
nications,  or  the  care  of  those  of  the  sick 
and  wounded,  who  were  transported  to  Hospitals  more 
convenient  to  the  base  of  supplies.  Each  of  the  Com 
mission's  Agencies  from  Chattanooga  to  Louisville, 
Kelly's  Ferry,  Bridgeport,  Stevenson,  Murfreesboro', 
and  Nashville  became  centres  of  activity,  affording 


CHATTANOOGA.  357 

relief  to  the  sick  and  wounded  soldier.  So  also  in  the 
camps  and  Hospitals  out  of  the  direct  line  of  commu 
nication  with  the  main  Armies  in  Western  Tennessee, 
and  South-eastern  Kentucky,  its  Agents  were  found 
investigating  the  needs  of  the  troops,  and  distributing 
the  people's  gifts  in  order  to  relieve  them.  This  re 
lief  was  afforded  at  points  near  the  Army,  and  on  the 
route  leading  to  it,  by  Feeding  Stations,  as  they  were 
called,  and  in  the  vast  Hospitals  at  Chattanooga, 
Murfreesboro',  Nashville,  and  Louisville,  by  means  of 
Hospital  visitors,  who  combined  something  of  the 
functions  of  Inspectors,  with  personal  ministrations  to 
the  special  wants  of  individual  soldiers.  When  it  is 
remembered  how  vast  the  Army  under  General  Grant 
became  by  successive  reinforcements,  it  will  be  readily 
perceived,  that  the  number  who  were  disabled  by  the 
casualties  of  the  campaign  it  had  gone  through,  must 
have  been  proportionably  great. 

There  were  three  successive  stages  of  suffering 
through  which  each  of  these  men  was  forced  to  pass  be 
fore  it  was  possible  that  he  should  reach  that  Three-Ma  na- 

.       ture  of  the  relief 

condition  where  there  was  a  fair  chance  of  his  afforded, 
recovery  and  return  to  the  Army.  In  each  of  these 
the  Commission  was  prepared  to  do  its  share  in  miti 
gating  the  inevitable  misery  caused  by  the  war.  In 
the  first  place,  it  was  necessary  that  the  sick  or 
wounded  man  should  be  transported  from  the  Field  or 
Regimental  Hospital  to  a  more  permanent  establish 
ment  called  a  General  Hospital,  often  hundreds  of 
miles  from  the  point  where  he  had  first  become  dis 
abled.  The  arrangements  made  by  the  Commission 
for  the  merciful  care  of  the  maimed  and  suffering  sol- 


358  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

dier,  during  his  journey,  by  means  of  Hospital  cars, 
have  been  already  described.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
Hospital  cars,  over-estimate  the  comfort  and  relief  which 
were  afforded  to  these  men  by  this  improved  system 
of  transportation.  STo  one  can  read  the  account  of  the 
aid  that  was  given,  and  the  suffering  that  was  pre 
vented  by  this  means,  without  a  feeling  of  justifiable 
pride  that  this  great  contribution  to  the  general  cause 
of  humanity  in  military  operations  was  purely  an 
American  contrivance,  and  that  its  invention,  as  well 
as  its  general  adoption  in  the  Army,  were  due  to  the 
persistent  efforts  of  a  member  of  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission. 

It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to  transport  all,  whom 
it  was  thought  best  to  remove,  by  this  means.     The 
number  of  cars  was  limited,  and  their  well  appointed 
arrangements  were  reserved  for  the    accommodation 
of  the   worst   cases   only.     The  great   mass  of  help 
less   men  was  placed  in   common  freight  cars  where 
they  suffered,  of  course,  not  only  positive  discomfort, 
but  often  terrible  agony.     In  order  to  meet  their  wants 
as  far  as  possible,  the  Commission  established  stations 
Feeding  sta-  along  the  route,  where  its  Agents  met  the 
trains  upon  their  arrival,  and,  were  ready 
with   coffee,   soup,  sandwiches,    stimulants   and   such 
other  articles  as  would  be  likely  to  revive  the  strength, 
and  to  keep  up  the  courage  of  hungry  and  exhausted 
men.     It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  one  who  had 
lost   his   health,  or   who   had   been  wounded  in    his 
country's  service,  was  transported  to  the  rear  of  the 
Army  of  General  Grant,  without  meeting  these  good 
Samaritans,  always  ready  to  pour  oil  and  wine  into  his 


CHATTANOOGA.  359 

wounds,  and  to  cheer  him  on  his  way.  Thus,  the  dis 
abled  soldier  passed  through  the  second  stage  of  his 
weary  journey.  When  he  reached,  at  last,  the  Gene 
ral  Hospital  where  he  was  to  remain  until  he  recovered 
or  died,  the  Commission  did  not  lose  sight  of  him. 
The  larger  number  of  the  invalids  from  Grant's  Army 
were  received  into  the  Hospitals  at  Nashville,  nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  men  having  passed  through 
them,  in  one  period  of  six  months,  during  the  war. 
The  Commission  employed  at  this  point,  as  well  as  at 
others,  men  of  kindly  nature  and  self-denying  zeal, 
who  were  engaged  as  Hospital  visitors  in  ministering 
to  the  peculiar  necessities  of  the  patients.  Hospital  visi- 
Their  duties  were  multiform  as  may  be  sup-  tors> 
posed,  for  they  were  obliged  to  listen  to  the  complaints 
of  many  sick  men,  and  to  strive  to  remedy  them  when 
remedy  was  possible.  They  were  brought  thus  into 
contact  with  the  individual  sufferer,  ascertained  his 
wants,  supplied  him  with  what  would  add  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Surgeon  to  his  comfort,  communicated 
with  his  friends,  encouraged  him  by  kindly  aid  and 
sympathy  to  bear  his  sufferings  patiently  and,  in  short 
served  as  a  link  between  him  and  his  home.  Men 
like  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ingraham  and  Judge  Root,  who,  for 
a  long  time,  were  the  Visitors  of  the  Commission  in  the 
Hospitals  at  Nashville,  proved  themselves,  by  their 
discretion,  by  their  Christian  example  and  self-denying 
devotion,  of  the  greatest  possible  service  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  those  establishments.  Their  labors 
improved  the  tone,  and  kept  up  the  spirits  of  the 
patients.  They  were  gladly  welcomed  by  the  Surgeons 
as  their  best  coadjutors,  and  the  men  who  had  been 


360  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

cheered  by  their  counsel  and  active  sympathy  always 
regarded  them  as  their  truest  friends. 

The  material  relief  afforded  by  these  Hospital 
Visitors  involved  a  large  distribution  of  stores, 
Distribution  of  not,  of  course,  of  the  kind  required,  in 

stores  in  Hospi 
tals,  such    large    quantities,  at    "the   front,"   as 

a  means  of  preventing  disease,  but  including  a  variety 
of  articles  in  the  way  of  delicate  food  and  home  com 
forts,  which  would  tend  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  patient,  and  shorten  his  stay  at  the  Hospital.  This 
distribution  was  no  indiscriminate  pouring  out  of  the 
gifts  which  had  been  confided  to  the  Commission  by 
the  people.  The  whole  business  was  administered 
carefully  and  judiciously,  and  with  the  same  strict 
adherence  to  rule  which  was  characteristic  of  all  the 
relief  methods  of  the  Commission.  The  mode  in  which 
this  distribution  was  made,  and  the  persons  to  whom 
the  articles  were  issued,  are  thus  described : 

"  They  were  placed  in  store-rooms  as  convenient  as 
possible  to  the  Hospitals  and  camps,  in  charge  of  a 
competent  store-keeper,  and  were  given  out  by  him,  first 
and  principally  on  the  written  request  of  the  surgeon  in 
charge,  who  in  this  request  stated  the  number  for  whom 
he  desired  to  procure  stores,  and  their  special  wants. 

"Secondly.  The  store-keeper  issued  stores  on  the  ap 
plication  of  the  ladies  in  charge  of  what  was  called  the 
"  light-diet  kitchen"  in  Hospitals.  Those  drawn  by  the 
surgeon  were,  as  a  general  rule,  placed  in  charge  of 
those  ladies,  when  the  hospitals  were  so  fortunate  as  to 
have  such  help.  These  ladies  cooked,  and  distributed 
them  to  the  sick. 

"  Thirdly.  The  Stores  were  given  to  "Hospital  Visi- 


CHATTANOOGA.  361 

tors,"  agents  who  went  to  Hospitals  and  camps,  seeking 
out  from  every  possible  source  any  special  cases  of 
want,  and  supplying  them.  Such  visits  were  made  as 
often  as  possible. 

"  Fourthly.  The  store-keepers  filled  all  orders  given 
by  State  Agents,  for  any  soldier  they  might  find  to  be 
needy,  or  who  applied  to  them  for  relief.  They 
also  furnished  to  individual  soldiers,  who  might  apply 
to  any  of  the  agents  for  relief,  as  soon  as  it  could  be 
ascertained  they  were  really  needy.  Under  a  general 
order  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Department,  they 
extended  to  the  agents  of  the  Christian  Commission  the 
same  privileges  as  were  enjoyed  by  our  own  Relief 
Agents,  distributing  to  them  to  supply  any  indi 
vidual  cases  of  neglect  or  suffering  which  they  might 
discover. 

"Fifthly.  They  furnished  goods  to  the  "Soldiers' 
Homes"  and  to  the  "  Hospital  Trains."  When  appli 
cation  was  made  by  the  surgeons  or  the  soldiers,  for  such 
articles  as  the  Government  had  for  distribution,  effort 
was  made  by  the  Agents  of  the  Commission  to  have 
them  supplied  fromjGrovernment  stores." 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  a  question,  some-  \ 
what  novel   and  of  great  practical  importance,  was 
presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  Com-  Efforts  to  Pre' 

pare  Sherman's 

mission.     The  number  of  the  patients  in  the  Army  for  its 
Hospitals  at  Nashville,  and  at  other  points  ln 


in  the  rear  of  the  Army,  was,  as  we  have  said,  very 
great,  and  during  the  winter  large  and  constant  de 
mands  were  made  upon  the  stores  of  the  Commission 
for  their  supply.  But  at  the  same  time,  one  hundred 
thousand  men  were  concentrated  at  Chattanooga,  pre- 


362  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

paring,  under  Sherman,  for  that  great  campaign  which 
was  to  terminate  in  the  capture  of  Atlanta.  It  was 
necessary,  therefore,  to  decide  to  which  of  these  large 
bodies  of  troops  the  stores  of  the  Commission  should 
be  devoted,  for  it  was  obviously  impossible  with  its 
resources  fully  to  meet  the  necessities  of  both.  Gene 
ral  Sherman  had  desired  that  the  larger  portion  of  the 
Commission's  stock  should  be  accumulated  at  Chatta 
nooga,  in  anticipation  of  the  campaign.  In  accord 
ance  with  his  wish,  and  after  the  fullest  consultation 
with  the  Medical  Director  at  Nashville,  who  was  satis 
fied  that  under  the  new  system  adopted  by  the  Medical 
Department  the  wants  of  the  patients  there  would  be 
well  cared  for  by  the  Government,  large  shipments  of 
the  reserve  stock  at  Nashville  were  sent  to  "the  front." 
Previous  to  the  commencement  of  the  campaign  three 
thousand  barrels  of  vegetables  and  a  large  supply  of 
condensed  milk,  beef,  stimulants,  underclothing  and 
bandages  were  sent  to  Chattanooga,  and  from  the  be 
ginning  of  May  until  the  end  of  July  stores  were  for 
warded  to  the  same  place  at  the  rate  of  about  one 
hundred  tons  per  week. 

During  the  campaign  which  followed,  the  Field 
Administration  Hospital  service  was  admirably  organized, 
sttL^dulg  and  was  administered  with  the  greatest 
the  campaign,  fidelity  and  exactness.  "Each  division  of 
the  army  had  a  large  number  of  wagons  devoted 
exclusively  to  the  conveyance  of  hospital  tents  and 
hospital  stores,  besides  which  there  was  a  reserve 
train  of  over  forty  wagons  for  the  Army  of  the  Cum 
berland.  These  accompanied  the  troops,  and  moved 
up  to  the  places  selected  for  the  Hospitals.  This  was 


CHATTANOOGA.  363 

usually  so  near  the  line  of  battle  that  the  wounded 
might  be  carried  but  a  little  distance,  and  yet  be  out 
of  reach  of  shot  and  shell,  where  they  might  not  be 
disturbed,  and  the  surgeons  and  nurses  might  work 
without  danger.  Suitable  ground  having  been  se 
lected,  men  were  detailed  to  make  the  necessary 
preparations.  The  Hospitals  were  established  in 
dense  woods,  and  one  set  began  to  cut  up  by  the 
roots  the  thick  underbrush ;  others  to  make  brooms 
of  the  twigs,  sweep  and  level  the  ground,  and  remove 
the  stones  ;  another  set  to  pitch  the  tents  or  build 
arbors  where  there  was  not  likely  to  be  sufficient 
canvass  to  cover  the  wounded ;  others  to  make 
bunks  of  poles  for  the  beds.  Another  set  picked  the 
green  leaves  of  the  oak,  the  chestnut,  or  the  pine  to 
fill  the  bed-ticks,  or  if  the  ticks  were  not  to  be  had,  the 
leaves  were  placed  on  poles  or  on  the  ground.  In 
front  of  the  tents  large  piles  of  leaves  were  laid,  upon 
which  the  wounded  were  placed  before  they  were  ex 
amined  and  dressed.  There  were  three  piles  for  each 
division  hospital,  corresponding  to  the  brigades,  and 
before  them  were  three  strong  tables,  provided  with  a 
pillow  and  covered  with  a  rubber  cloth — "  the  operat 
ing  tables."  Over  three  hundred  such  Hospitals 
were  established  during  the  campaign,  so  long  was 
the  line  of  march,  and  so  frequent  the  change  of 
position.  Every  one  of  these  Hospitals  was  visited 
by  the  Agents  of  the  Commission,  and  during  the  ten 
days  before  the  railroad  at  Ackworth  was  reached  by 
the  Army,  no  less  than  twenty-four  large  wagon 
loads  of  sanitary  stores  were  distributed  close  to  the 


364  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

line  of  battle.  It  is  not  easy  to  estimate  the  worth  of 
such  aid  at  such  a  time. 

At  the  Feeding  Stations  established  in  the  rear  of 
the  Army  for  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  wounded  in 
Work  at  the  transitu.  at  Kingston.  Resaca,  and  Dalton 

Feeding     Sta-  '  ' 

tions,  more  than  seventeen  thousand  meals  were 

furnished  up  to  the  fourteenth  of  July.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  the  heroes  for  whom  this  beneficent 
provision  was  made  belonged  to  an  Army  which  had 
driven  back  a  stubborn  enemy  more  than  a  hundred 
miles,  where  every  inch  of  the  ground  had  been  hotly 
contested,  that  it  had  taken  seventeen  lines  of  fortifi 
cations,  that  it  had  built  entrenchments  more  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length,  and  had  carried  as 
strong  natural  positions  as  any  in  the  world,  we  are 
at  a  loss  which  most  to  admire,  the  grandeur  of  the 
deeds  themselves,  or  the  practical  manifestation  upon 
so  vast  a  scale  of  that  profound  affection  and  gratitude 
of  those  at  home,  which  had  been  inspired  by  their 
brilliant  courage  and  conduct. 

The  work  of  the  Commission,  and  the  character 
of  its  Agents  had  been  so  long  familiar  to  all 
the  officers  in  high  command  in  that  Army,  and 
so  exactly  were  its  place  and  functions  defined  in 
the  ordinary  routine  of  Army  life,  that  it  had  long 
been  recognized  as  a  permanent  Army  institution, 
almost  as  essential  within  its  own  sphere,  as  the 
Departments  of  the  Surgeon  and  Commissary  in  theirs. 
So  far  from  there  being  in  that  Army  any  complaint 
Appreciation  of  Of  interference  with  Officers  in  the  dis- 

the  Commis 
sion's  work  by  charge  of  their  duties,  there  was  throughout, 

not  only  a  friendly  feeling  towards  the  Com- 


CHATTANOOGA.  365 

mission,  but  one  of  the  utmost  cordiality  and  co-ope 
ration  with  its  work.  This  manifested  itself  on  all 
occasions,  hot  only  in  this  Army,  but  in  all  the  Armies 
of  the  West,  and  nowhere  was  it  more  conspicuous  than 
in  the  perfect  spirit  of  appreciation  shown  at  all  times 
for  the  labors  of  the  Commission,  by  General  Grant. 
The  facilities  afforded  for  the  prosecution  of  those  labors 
by  his  order  on  the  Mississippi  before  Yicksburg, 
have  been  already  spoken  of,  and  when  this  illustrious 
man  commanded  a  district,  embracing  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  Western  country,  he  lost  no  opportunity  of 
testifying  his  continued  confidence  in  the  system  by 
which  the  operations  of  the  Commission  were  con 
ducted.  "  When,  for  instance,"  says  the  Inspector  at 
Nashville,  "  General  Granger,  the  Post  Commander, 
doubting  his  authority,  refused  to  issue  rations  or  fuel 
for  the  "  Home ;"  on  application  to  General  Grant, 
he  replied,  "  Of  course  it  must  be  done,"  and  gave  the 
necessary  order,  relieving  us  from  that  embarrassment. 
Soon  after,  our  Agents  at  Chattanooga  wrote  us,  that 
the  authorities  there  were  desirous  to  do  all  they 
could  for  us  legally,  but  could  find  no  authority  to 
issue  forage  for  our  horses.  We  had  then  but  two,  but 
we  must  have  them,  and  as  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  supply  ourselves,  I  again  resorted  to  General  Grant, 
who  gave  an  order,  that  in  all  parts  of  his  command, 
forage  be  issued  on  application  of  the  authorized 
agents  of  the  Commission,  approved  by  the  Post  Com 
mander.  I  have  sent  copies  of  this  order  to  Chatta 
nooga,  Knoxville,  and  Louisville.  For  the  past  eight 
months,  the  Commission  in  Nashville  has  not  been 
able  to  obtain  comfortable  quarters.  The  city  is  con- 


366 


UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


stantly  crowded  to  overflowing.  A  suitable  building 
was  hardly  to  be  found.  After  long  delay  I  applied  to 
General  Grant,  asking  for  a  large  house,  and  if  practi 
cable,  plain  furniture.  By  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
Scovel,  our  true  friend,  and  a  good  Union  man,  such  a 
house  was  found,  and  General  Grant  promptly  put  us 
in  possession ;  adding  to  the  favor,  that  of  paying  the 
rent.  We  receive  such  aid  with  gratitude,  as  substan 
tial  testimonials  from  the  General,  whom  the  nation 
delights  to  honor,  of  the  value  of  our  work." 

In  short,  throughout  the  whole  West,  the  affairs  of 
the  Commission  had  been  managed  with  so  much  dis 
cretion  and  wisdom,  and  with  such  manifest  advantage 
to  the  suffering,  that  the  example  set  by  their  great 
Commander  was  followed  by  all  his  subordinates,  and 
there,  at  least,  was  reached,  at  last,  that  ideal  condi 
tion  of  friendly  and  confidential  relations  with  all  the 
Departments  of  the  Army,  which  had  inspired  the 
original  conception  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and 
to  secure  which  was  its  constant  aim  during  the  whole 
period  of  its  history. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

FREDERICKSBURG— GETTYSBURG— THE  WILDERNESS. 

AFTER  the  battle  of  Antietam,  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  pursued  its  well  trodden  way  in  pursuit  of 
the  enemy  along  the  base,  and  through  the  improved  conai- 

&  .     .  tionoftheArmy 

passes  of  the  Blue  Mountains.  Arriving  after  Antietam, 
on  the  Rapidan  without  succeeding  in  bringing  him  to 
an  engagement,  it  was  determined  by  General  Burn- 
side  to  make  a  sudden  move  to  his  left,  and  by  gaining 
possession  of  Fredericksburg,  interpose  his  Army  be 
tween  that  of  the  rebels  and  Richmond.  Accordingly, 
in  the  latter  part  of  November,  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  concentrated  upon  the  heights  opposite 
Fredericksburg,  and  preparations  were  made  to  cross 
the  river,  and  storm  the  intrenchments  which  com 
manded  the  town.  Great  hopes  were  entertained  of 
the  success  of  this  movement  by  those  who  were  most 
familiar  with  the  condition  of  the  army.  The  long 
delay  after  Antietam  had  been  employed  in  perfecting 
its  organization,  and  in  thoroughly  refitting  it,  while 
the  inarch  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rappahannock  not 
very  severe  in  itself,  had,  with  troops  like  these,  im 
proved  not  only  their  physical  condition,  but  had  de 
veloped  in  them  some  of  the  best  soldierly  qualities, — 
steadiness,  obedience,  and  patient  endurance.  Expe 
rience  in  active  campaigns  had  taught  the  leaders  of 


367 


368          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

the  Army  many  valuable  lessons.  It  had  become  a 
thoroughly  trained  and  highly  efficient  body  of  men, 
and,  notwithstanding  there  existed  some  dissatisfaction 
arising  from  the  recent  change  in  its  Commander,  it  was 
full  of  confidence  in  its  ability  to  win  the  victory.  In  no 
Department  of  the  Army  was  the  improvement  more 
marked  than  in  the  medical  service.  Dr.  LETTERMAN, 
the  Medical  Director,  with  uncommon  capacity  for 
organizing  his  work,  had  a  very  high  appreciation,  of 
the  nature  of  the  duties  devolving  upon  him,  and 
showed  great  energy  in  insisting  that  all  the  details  of 
the  service  should  be  thoroughly  and  faithfully  carried 
out  by  his  subordinates.  The  Ambulance  corps,  which 
had  been  organized  by  him,  under  General  McClellan's 
order  before  the  Army  left  the  Peninsula,  had  been 
thoroughly  instructed  in  its  duties,  and  at  the  battle  of 
Fredericksburg  was  distinguished  by  a  zeal,  devotion, 
and  success  in  the  peculiar  work  assigned  to  it,  of 
which  there  had  been  no  example  in  previous  cam 
paigns. 

In  anticipation  of  the  battle,  eighteen  Hospitals  had' 
been  established  for  the  special  care  of  the  wounded, 
First  battle  of  one  f°r  eacn  Division  of  the  Army,  and  mi- 
Predericksburg,  nute  instructions  were  issued  by  the  Medical 
Director  for  their  management.  The  vital  matter  of  sup 
plies,  a  point  on  which  the  Government  theory  of  doing 
everything  for  the  soldier  had  so  often  broken  down  in 
practice,  had  not  been  neglected.  The  Medical  Pur 
veyor's  stores  were  kept  constantly  replenished,  and  in 
no  considerable  battle  of  the  war  was  so  complete  a 
system  of  caring  for  its  victims  so  thoroughly  organ 
ized.  The  consequence  was,  that  when  the  Army 


FREDERICKSBURG.  369 

failed  to  carry  by  storm  the  heights  beyond  Frede 
ricksburg,  there  was  as  little  confusion  in  the  arrange 
ments  for  the  transportation  and  relief  of  the  wounded, 
as  there  was  in  the  retreat  of  the  Army  itself.  The 
orderly  manner  in  which  both  of  these  operations  were 
effected,  and  the  whole  Army  with  its  ten  thousand 
wounded  recrossed  the  river,  was  the  best  proof  of  the 
existence  of  a  true  military  spirit  which  needed  only 
better  direction  to  have  achieved  the  most  important 
results.  When  the  condition  of  the  Army  which 
fought  at  Fredericksburg  is  compared  with  that  of 
the  same  Army  at  Antietam,  three  months  before, 
the  contrast  is  very  striking.  The  difference,  indeed, 
was  just  that  which  must  always  exist  between  a  disci 
plined  and  therefore  truly  effective  body  of  soldiers,  and- 
an  imperfectly  organized  Army,  exhausted  by  forced 
marches,  dispirited  by  frequent  defeats,  and  unpro 
vided  with  adequate  supplies  of  any  kind.  Although 
victory  was  the  result  of  the  first  battle,  and  defeat  of 
the  other,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  for  all 
military  purposes  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  a 
more  serviceable  and  efficient  army  when  it  recrossed 
the  Rappahannock  after  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg, 
than  it  was  when  Lee  recrossed  the  Potomac  after  the 
battle  of  Antietam. 

The  Commission's  Agents,  as  usual,  accompanied 
the  Army  during  the  campaign,  but  their  duties,  in 
providing  supplemental  aid  for  the  Hospitals  Work  of  the 
as  may  be  inferred  from  what  has  been  said,  teTrtaTblttie* 
were  lighter  than  they  had  been  called  on  to  render  on 
previous  occasions.  When  the  Army  reached  Frede 
ricksburg,  the  line  of  its  communication  was  changed  to 

47 


370  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY   COMMISSION. 

the  Potomac  River,  and  the  central  office  at  Washing 
ton,  in  anticipation  of  the  impending  battle  sent 
forward  a  large  amount  of  stores,  and  a  number  of 
Relief  Agents,  under  the  efficient  superintendence  of 
Dr.  Douglas,  to  reinforce  those  already  on  the  ground. 
They  arrived  at  Falmouth,  opposite  Fredericksburg, 
just  in  time  to  witness  the  retreat  of  the  Army,  and 
the  distribution  of  the  wounded  in  the  different  Divi 
sion  Hospitals.  A  minute  inspection  of  these  Hos 
pitals  was  at  once  made,  and  it  was  found  that  they 
had  nearly  all  been  amply  supplied  by  the  Medical 
Purveyor  with  those  means  of  succor  first  needed  by 
wounded  men. 

A  contingency  arose,  just  at  this  time,  which  had 
not  been  anticipated  even  by  the  provident  and  vigi- 
Wooien  clothing  lant  care  of  the  Medical  Director,  and 
mlTLpi!  which>  fortunately,  was  fully  met  by  the 
tais.  resources  of  the  Commission.  It  so  hap 

pened  that  the  weather  during  the  operations  before 
Fredericksburg  was  unusually  cold  and  stormy,  and 
one  of  the  first  wants  of  those  who  had  been  disabled 
was  not  merely  Hospital  clothing,  of  which  there  was 
an  abundance,  but  warm  woolen  clothing,  of  which  the 
supply  in  the  stores  of  the  Purveyor  was  necessarily 
very  limited.  Here  was  another  opportunity  for  fill 
ing  up  one  of  those  gaps  which,  all  experience  proves, 
will  occur  in  the  administration  of  the  best  organized 
Army.  As  the  Commission  stood  always  ready  pre 
pared  for  this  kind  of  service,  this  fact,  if  none  other, 
should  be  a  perfect  justification  of  its  claim  to  be  con 
sidered  an  invaluable  auxiliary  to  the  Army  methods 
of  relieving  the  suffering.  The  Medical  Director  had 


FREDERICKSBURG.  371 

provided  all  things  in  abundance  which  his  experience 
taught  him  might  be  necessary.  Ambulances,  food, 
stimulants,  surgical  and  hospital  appliances  of  all 
kinds  were  ready  at  hand,  but  he  could  not  have  antici 
pated  a  snow  storm  at  Fredericksburg  in  the  early 
part  of  December,  and  therefore  he  was  not  prepared 
for  the  kind  of  suffering  it  occasioned.  No  sooner  was 
this  particular  want  made  known,  than  the  Commission 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Medical  Officers  of  the 
Hospitals,  1800  blankets,  900  quilts,  5,642  woolen 
shirts,  4,439  pairs  of  woolen  drawers,  and  4,270  pairs 
of  woolen  stockings.  It  is  certainly  unnecessary  to 
enlarge  upon  the  nature  of  the  relief  afforded  to  the 
patients  at  such  a  time  by  these  articles. 

It  was  the  wise  policy  of  the  Medical  Director  to 
convey  the  wounded  of  this  battle  to  the  general 
military  Hospitals  at  Washington  and  Point  Transportation 
Lookout  with  the  least  possible  delay,  and 
such  was  the  energy  with  which  his  plans 
were  executed,  that  by  Christmas  Day,  two  weeks  after 
the  battle  occurred,  nearly  all  had  been  removed.  The 
men  were  transported  by  railroad  to  Acquia  on  the 
Potomac,  and  from  thence  to  the  general  Hospitals  in 
steamers.  To  provide  for  the  wants  of  those  who 
might  reach  Acquia,  hungry,  exhausted,  or  needing 
care,  Mr.  Knapp,  Superintendent  of  the  Special 
Relief  Service,  was  directed  to  establish  a  Feeding  and 
Relief  station  close  by  the  landing  at  that  point. 
Although  the  work  performed  by  him  and  his  assist 
ants  was  absolutely  nothing,  when  compared  with  that 
called  for  by  the  wants  of  the  suffering  at  the  same 
place  after  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness  in  the  next 


372  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

year,  still  on  the  first  night  after  the  station  was 
established,  more  than  six  hundred  wounded  men,  all 
more  or  less  exhausted,  who  had  been  brought  down 
by  the  cars,  were  fed  and  cared  for. 

After  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  the  Army  went 
into  winter  quarters,  and,  owing  to  its  improved  or- 
ganization,  and  its  nearness  to  its  base  of 
^PP1^  at  Washington,  it  needed  far  less 
1862-3  supplemental  aid  than  it  had  done  at  any 

previous  time.  It  was  thought  by  the  officers  of  the 
Commission,  that  one  good  result  of  their  presence 
and  work  in  the  Army  which  had  been  ardently  hoped 
for,  was  very  observable  during  this  winter.  There 
seemed  to  be  a  great  eagerness  on  the  part  of  the 
officials,  not  merely  to  profess  their  readiness  to  supply 
all  the  possible  legitimate  wants  of  the  soldier,  but  an 
unusual  effort  to  provide  for  them  in  abundance  from 
the  Government  stores.  The  Commission,  with  par 
donable  vanity  perhaps,  attributed  this  renewed  zeal, 
in  part,  at  least,  to  the  example  which  it  had  set.  In 
this  opinion,  it  was  supported  by  one  of  the  highest 
officers  of  the  Government,  and  whether  the  improve 
ment  was  due  to  this  cause,  or  to  the  public  clamor, 
which  the  alleged  neglect  of  the  suffering  after  great 
battles  had  roused,  or  to  greater  familiarity  with  the 
details  of  the  Army  service,  or  to  unusual  facility  in 
forwarding  supplies  from  the  base,  certain  it  is  that 
the  improvement  was  very  marked  and  gratifying. 
It  is  now  well  ascertained,  that  at  no  time  was  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  in  better  health,  and  better  cared  for 
in  every  respect  than  during  the  winter  in  which  it  lay 
before  Fredericksburg. 


FREDERICKSBURG.  373 

While  the  demand  upon  the  stores  of  the  Commis 
sion,  therefore,  for  use  in  the  Hospitals,  was  limited, 
there  was  another  branch  of  its  service  in  Lodge  at  Acqma, 
which  the  duties  of  its  officers  were  constant.  During 
the  winter,  a  large  number  of  soldiers  passed  to  and 
from  the  Army,  either  men  returning  from  their 
furloughs,  or  sick  and  disabled  men,  who  were  sent  to 
Washington  to  receive  their  final  discharge.  Acquia 
Landing,  on  the  Potomac,  was  the  great  rendezvous 
and  halting  place  for  these  men,  all  of  whom  were 
hungry,  and  many  exhausted,  and  unfit  to  proceed 
further  without  that  sort  of  care  for  which  they  had 
no  claim  upon  the  Government.  Many  thousands  of 
these  men  were  furnished  with  a  comfortable  meal  at 
the  Commission's  Rest  at  that  place,  and  many  others, 
sick  and  destitute,  who  had  served  faithfully,  but  who 
had  been  turned  adrift  because  they  could  march  and 
fight  no  longer,  found  that  the  American  people  were 
not  less  disposed  to  recognize  their  claims  upon  its 
gratitude  because  they  had  become  worn  out  in  its 
service. 

The  movement  of  the  Army  which  terminated  in 
the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  was  intended  to  be  the 
commencement  of  a  long  campaign,  but  the  Battleof  Chan. 
unexpected  result  of  that  battle  caused  the  °eiiorsviiie, 
Army  to  resume,  within  a  few  days,  its  former  posi 
tion  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Rappahannock.  Pre 
vious  to  the  march,  permission  had  been  solicited  by 
the  officers  of  the  Commission,  to  accompany  the 
Army  with  a  large  amount  of  supplies.  This  per 
mission  had,  at  first,  been  accorded,  but  the  exigencies 
of  the  service,  requiring  that  the  transportation 


374  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

should  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  point,  it  was  after 
wards  withdrawn,  and  the  Agents  were  obliged  to 
carry  what  they  could  on  pack  mules.  The  diffi 
culties  of  transportation,  combined  with  the  con 
fusion  of  the  battle,  and  the  unexpected  retreat  of 
the  Army,  caused  a  serious,  and  deplorable,  but  per 
haps  unavoidable  neglect  of  the  wounded  at  the  battle 
of  Chancellorsville.  Little  could  be  done  to  relieve 
their  agony  either  by  the  Medical  Officers,  or  by  those 
who  proffered  supplemental  aid,  although  nowhere 
were  the  zeal  and  humanity  of  those  whose  special 
province  it  was  to  care  for  the  wounded,  more  con 
spicuous.  The  horrors  of  the  battle-field  at  Chancel 
lorsville  were  perhaps  more  fearful  than  those  of  any 
other  battle  during  the  war,  but  they  were  of  a  kind 
least  preventible,  and  least  capable  of  being  mitigated 
by  official  or  extra-official  methods  of  relief.  The 
disastrous  issue  of  the  battle  forced  us  to  abandon 
many  of  our  wounded  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and 
some  of  them,  it  is  feared,  met  with  a  worse  fate,  dy 
ing  in  the  burning  forest,  from  which  it  was  impossi 
ble  to  rescue  them. 

Once  more  defeated,  but  not  disheartened,  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  returned  to  its  former  cantonments  to 
The  Amy  moves  prepare  for  a  new  campaign.  This  time 

northward,  ^     firgt     moye    Wftg     made     ^    ^    enemy? 

who,  abandoning  his  position  beyond  Fredericksburg 
marched  towards  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  with  the 
view  first,  of  drawing  General  Hooker  into  some  un 
favorable  position  in  the  range  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and 
then,  after  defeating  him  invading  the  Xorth.  The 
plan  of  this  campaign,  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  was 


FREDERICKSBURG.  375 

based  by  the  enemy  upon  a  very  false  conception  of 
the  real  condition  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which 
was  supposed  by  him  to  be,  both  discouraged  and  de 
moralized.  The  forced  marches  which  that  Army 
made  from  Fredericksburg  to  Gettysburg,  keeping 
within  the  inner  portion  of  the  circle  while  the  enemy 
was  moving  round  its  circumference,  the  admirable 
state  of  discipline  and  efficiency  which  it  exhibited 
during  that  march,  the  wonderful  spirit,  vigor  and 
endurance  which  enabled  it  to  gain  the  immortal 
victory  of  Gettysburg,  and  the  ease  with  which  it 
pursued  the  retreating  enemy,  all  proved,  that  friend 
and  foe  alike  had  been  mistaken  in  their  judgment 
of  that  heroic,  long- enduring  and  finally  trium 
phant  Army.  A  part  of  the  Commission's  Relief 
Corps  accompanied  it  on  its  march,  its  wagons  being 
constantly  kept  replenished  from  the  depot  at  Wash 
ington.  .  Assistance  was  rendered  day  by  day  to  the 
Surgeons  in  the  care  of  those  who  were  wounded 
during  the  frequent  skirmishes,  and  of  those  who  be 
came  ill  in  consequence  of  the  fatigues  and  privations 
of  forced  marches  in  a  desolate  region  during  the 
heats  of  midsummer. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  a  grand  conflict  was  at 
hand,  a  battle  with  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  men 
on  each  side,  the  result  of  which  might  de-  Preparations  for 
cide  the  fate  of  the  Rebellion.  Accordingly,  Gettysburg, 
the  most  extensive  preparations  were  made  by  the 
Commission  to  meet  the  terrible  emergency.  Expe 
rienced  officers  were  sent  to  Frederick,  Baltimore,  Phi 
ladelphia,  and  Harrisburg,  and  a  systematic  daily  com 
munication  was  kept  up  between  them,  and  the  Agents 


376  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

accompanying  the  Army.  Supplies  were  accumulated 
ready  for  movement  at  different  points  near  the  seat 
of  war,  and  a  large  reserve  stock  was  held  at  the  dif 
ferent  branch  offices  to  be  sent  forward  as  soon  as  the 
news  of  the  expected  battle  should  reach  them.  A 
portion  of  the  enemy's  force,  after  crossing  the  Poto 
mac  occupied  Frederick,  on  its  march  northward. 
During  its  stay,  the  Commission's  stores  in  that  town 
were  carefully  concealed,  and  after  its  departure  the 
wagons  moving  with  the  supply  train  of  the  Union 
Army  were  replenished  from  them. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  General  Meade's  Army  was 
concentrated  at  Frederick,  the  Rebels  being  scattered 
Battle  of  Get-  at  various  points  in  the  Cumberland  Valley, 
!±pgpiitg^  at  Chambersburg,  at  Carlisle,  and  at  York, 
the  Army.  near  the  Susquehanna.  The  Army  marched 
northeastward  to  guard  the  approaches  to  Baltimore 
and  Washington,  and  its  advance  guard,  the  First  and 
Eleventh  Corps,  under  General  Reynolds,  reached  GET 
TYSBURG  on  the  first  of  July.  On  that  day  it  had  an 
engagement  with  an  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy, 
and  being  driven  in  entrenched  itself  during  the  night 
on  the  Cemetery  Hill,  adjoining  the  town  on  the  south. 
The  Third  and  Twelfth  Corps  arrived  during  the  night, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  Army  during  the  forenoon 
of  the  next  day,  Thursday,  the  2d  of  July,  and  took  up 
those  formidable  positions,  from  which  during  this  and 
the  succeeding  day  the  Rebels  made  so  many,  and  such 
vain  efforts  to  dislodge  them.  All  was  quiet  until  four 
o'clock  of  the  afternoon  of  Thursday,  when  a  desperate 
assault  was  made  by  Long-street's  Corps  upon  our  left 
wing,  holding  that  portion  .of  the  field  known  as  Round 


FREDERICKSBURG.  377 

Top  Hill.  The  result  was  a  disastrous  repulse  to  the 
Rebels,  and  the  wounding  of  many  of  our  men.  Two 
wagon-loads  of  battle-field  supplies  belonging  to  the 
Commission  had  arrived  with  the  Headquarters'  train, 
at  Cemetery  Hill,  the  night  before.  As  soon  as  the  as 
sault  commenced,  these  wagons  were  despatched  to  the 
left  and  were  conducted,  under  fire,  to  the  point  at 
which  the  Surgeons  had  established  temporary  Hospi 
tals,  and  to  which  the  wounded  were  being  brought 
from  the  field  in  large  numbers.  As  these  wagons,  bear 
ing  the  familiar  inscription  "  U.  S.  San.  Com."  (always 
so  dear  to  the  eyes  of  sufferers  in  the  Army,)  came  in 
sight,  a  Surgeon  who  was  standing  at  a  point  not  five 
hundred  yards  in  the  rear  of  the  line  of  battle,  sur 
rounded  by  sufferers  for  whose  succor  he  had  exhausted 
all  the  means  at  hand,  exclaimed  with  joyful  eager 
ness,  "  Thank  God,  here  comes  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
mission ;  now  we  shall  be  able  to  do  something." 
Brandy,  beef-soup,  sponges,  chloroform,  lint  and  ban 
dages  were  at  once  distributed,  and  proved,  no  doubt, 
the  means  of  saving  many  lives.  The  stock  of  sup 
plies  in  these  wagons  was  also  sufficient  to  aid  very 
materially  in  relieving  the  wants  of  the  wounded  in 
the  Hospitals  of  the  First,  Second,  Third,  Fifth,  Ele 
venth  and  Twelfth  Corps,  on  this  first  day  of  a  general 
engagement. 

The  wagons  being  thus  emptied  were  sent  at  once  to 
Frederick,  so  that  their  stock  might  be  replenished 
and  sent  back  to  the  field  without  delay.  Agents  of  the 
They  were  reloaded  at  Frederick,  and  ready  tured "and  held 
to  leave  that  point  early  on  the  4th  of  July.  as  Pris°ners  °f 

J  J      war    by    the 

One    of  them  was  sent   by  way  of  West-  enemy, 


378  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

minster  the  other  in  charge  of  Dr.  McDonald,  who  had 
the  general  superintendence  of  the  Commission's  work 
in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was  proceeding  on  the 
direct  road  to  Gettysburg,  when  it  was  unfortunately 
captured  by  the  cavalry  of  the  retreating  Rebels.  Dr. 
McDonald,  Rev.  Mr.  Scandlin,  one  of  the  Agents  of 
the  Commission,  and  two  laboring  men,  who  were  in 
its  service,  and  who  were  in  charge  of  the  wagon, 
were  detained  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  marched  to 
Richmond,  where,  for  months,  they  endured  all  the 
loathsome  horrors  of  the  Libby  Prison.  This  charac 
teristic  act  of  cruelty  was  committed  by  the  Rebels, 
not  only  with  full  notice  that  the  persons  captured 
were,  in  the  strictest  sense,  non-combatants,  but  also 
that  they  were  conveying  supplies  to  the  battle-field, 
intended  equally  for  the  relief  of  friend  and  foe,  and 
further  that  their  own  wounded  men  were,  at  that  very 
time,  receiving  succor  from  the  stores  which  these  cap 
tured  men  were  endeavoring  to  replenish. 

The  railroad  approaches  to  Gettysburg  on  the  east 
had  been  broken  up,  and  the  nearest  point  of  commu- 


sent  by  nication  with  the  battle-field,  in  that  direc- 

way    of    West-      . 

minster.  tion,  was   by  way  of    Westminster,    about 

twenty  miles  to  the  South-east.  To  that  point,  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  the  Agents  succeeded  in  getting  a 
car-load  of  supplies,  from  which  wagons  were  laden,  and 
sent  to  the  Field  Hospitals,  which  they  reached  early 
next  morning.  Immediately  afterwards,  five  more 
wagon  loads  were  despatched  by  the  same  route,  and 
thus,  before  railroad  communication  between  Gettys 
burg  and  the  North  was  restored,  the  first,  which  are 
always  the  most  pressing  wants  of  the  wounded,  had 


FREDERICKSBURG. 


379 


been  materially  relieved.  When  the  railroad  to  Get 
tysburg  was  opened,  a  vast  amount  of  stores  reached 
that  place  daily.  Among  other  things,  large  quanti 
ties  of  fresh  provisions,  meat  and  vegetables,  were  sent 
every  day  from  Philadelphia  in  "refrigerating  cars," 
as  they  were  called,  or  cars  which  had  been  converted 
into  movable  ice-houses.  A  glance  at  the  table  of  is 
sues  from  the  Commission's  storehouse  during  the  ten 
days  succeeding  the  battle,  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  relief  extended  to  the  wounded 
through  its  agency  by  the  loyal  people  of  the 
North.* 

*  The  following  is  a  statement  of  the  quantities  of  the  principal  articles  dis 
tributed  by  the  Commission  to  the  wounded  upon  the  field  at  Gettysburg,  sub 
sequent  to  the  battle.  The  perishable  articles,  (amounting  to  over  60  tons) 
were  taken  to  the  ground  in  refrigerating  cars. 


Articles  of  Sustenance,  viz.  : 

Fresh  Poultry  and  Mut 
ton 11,000  pounds. 

Fresh  Butter 6,430       « 

"  Eggs,  (chiefly  col 
lected  for  the  occasion 
at  farm  houses  in  Penn 
sylvania  and  New  Jer 
sey.) 8,500  dozens. 

Fresh  Garden  Vegetables.,675  bushels. 

"     Berries 48       " 

"      Bread 12,900  loaves. 

Ice 20,000  pounds. 

Concentrated  Beef  Soup..3,800      " 
Milk 12,500      " 

Prepared        Farinaceous 

Food 7,000       " 

Dried  Fruit 3,500       " 

Jellies  and  Conserves. ...2,000  jars. 

Tamarinds 750  gallons. 

Lemons 116  boxes. 

Oranges 46       " 

Coffee 850  pounds. 


Articles  of  Clothing,  etc.,  viz. : 

Drawers,  (woolen) 5,310  pairs. 

"          (cotton) 1,833       " 

Shirts,  (woolen) 7,158 

(cotton) 3,266 

Pillows 2,114 

Pillow  Cases 264 

Bed  Sacks 1,630 

Blankets 1,007 

Sheets 274 

Wrappers 508 

Handkerchiefs 2,659 

Stockings,  (woolen) 3,560  pairs. 

(cotton) 2,258      " 

Bed  Utensils 728 

Towels  and  Napkins. ..10,000 

Sponges 2,300 

Combs 1,500 

Buckets 200 

Soap,  (Castile) 250  pounds. 

Oil  Silk 300  yards. 

Tin  Basins,  Cups,  etc.... 7,000 

Old  Linen,  Bandages,  etc...HO  barrels. 


380          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


The  scene  presented  at  the  Commission's  Depot  in 
Scene  at  the  the   town    for    many   days   succeeding  the 
•tantonit  in  Battle  was  a  novel  and  extraordinary  one : 
the  town,  «  Car-load  after  car-load  of  supplies  were 

brought  to  this  place,  till  shelves,  and  counter,  and 
floor  up  to  the  ceiling  were  filled,  till  there  was  barely 
a  passage-way  between  the  piles  of  boxes  and  barrels, 
till  the  sidewalk  was  monopolized,  and  even  the  street 
encroached  upon.  This  abundant  overflow  of  the 
generous  remembrance  of  those  at  home  to  those  in 
the  Army  was  distributed  in  the  same  generous  manner 
as  it  was  contributed.  Each  morning  the  supply 
wagons  of  the  Division  and  Corps  Hospitals  were  before 
the  door,  and  each  day  they  went  away  laden  with 
such  articles  as  were  desired  to  meet  their  wants.  If 


Articles  of  Sustenance,  (continued.} 

Chocolate 831   pounds. 

Tea 426       " 

White  Sugar, 6,800       " 

Syrups,  (Lemon,  etc.) 785  bottles. 

Brandy..: 1,250       " 

Whisky 1,168       " 

Wine 1,148       " 

Ale 600  gallons. 

Biscuit,    Crackers,    and 

Rusk 134  barrels. 

Preserved  Meats 500   pounds. 

Preserved  Fish 3,600       " 

Pickles 400  gallons. 

Tobacco 100  pounds. 

Indian  Meal 1,621       " 

Starch 1,074       " 

Codfish 3,848       " 

Canned  Fruit 582  cans. 

"      Oysters 72      " 

Brandy  Peaches 302  jars. 

Catsup 42     " 

Vinegar 24  bottles. 

Jamaica  Ginger 43  jars. 


Articles  of  Clothing,  etc.,  (continued.) 

Water  Tanks 7 

Water  Coolers 46 

Bay  Rum  and   Cologne 

Water 225  bottles. 

Fans 3,500 

Chloride  of  Lime 11  barrels. 

Shoes  and  Slippers 4,000  pairs. 

Crutches 1,200 

Lanthorns 180 

Candles 350  pounds. 

Canvas 300  sq.y'ds. 

Musquito  Netting 648  pieces. 

Paper 237  quires. 

Pants,  Coats,  Hats 189  pieces. 

Plaster 16  rolls 


GETTYSBURG.  381 

the  articles  needed  one  day  were  not  in  our  possession 
at  the  time,  they  were  immediately  telegraphed  for, 
and  by  the  next  train  of  cars  they  were  ready  to 
be  delivered.  Thus,  tons  of  ice,  mutton,  poultry, 
fish,  vegetables,  soft  bread,  eggs,  butter,  and  a  variety 
of  other  articles  of  substantial  and  delicate  food 
were  provided  for  the  wounded,  with  thousands  of 
suits  of  clothing  of  all  kinds,  and  hospital  furniture 
in  quantity  to  meet  the  emergency.  It  was  a  grand 
sight  to  see  this  exhibition  of  the  tender  care  of  the 
people  for  the  people's  braves.  It  was  a  bit  of  home 
feeling,  of  home  bounty,  brought  to  the  tent,  and  put 
into  the  hand  of  the  wounded  soldier." 

But  this  work  of  distributing  supplies  to  the  Field 
Hospitals,  grand  as  it  was  in  its  proportions,  formed 
only  a  part  of  the  general  system  of  Battle-  special  Belief 
Field  Relief  adopted  by  the  Commission,  and 
carried  out  so  efficiently  at  Gettysburg.  Ex-  stations, 
perience  had  taught  its  officers  that  the  wounded 
suffered  quite  as  much  during  their  transportation  to 
permanent  Hospitals  from  hunger  and  exhaustion,  and 
from  the  jolting  of  their  mangled  limbs  over  rough 
roads,  as  they  did  in  the  Field  Hospitals  themselves. 
This  suffering  was  of  a  kind  which  the  Medical 
officers  could  only  measurably  relieve.  To  mitigate  it 
as  far  as  possible,  a  Lodge  and  Feeding  Station  were 
established  at  the  point  to  which  the  wounded  were 
brought  for  embarkation  on  the  railroad.  At  this  place 
they  were  cared  for  and  refreshed  by  the  same  means 
which  had  procured  such  inestimable  relief  to  thou 
sands  in  the  Peninsula,  at  Acquia,  and  throughout  the 
seat  of  war  at  the  West. 


382  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

On  their  arrival  at  the  terminus  of  the  railroad,  that 
portion  of  the  Commission's  Corps  which  came  through 
Nature  and  ex-  by  the  first  train,  met  a  crowd  of  slightly 

tent  of  the  work  '  .  °        J 

done  in  them,  wounded  men  gathered  there,  limping,  drag 
ging  themselves  along,  silent,  weary,  hungry,  and 
utterly  exhausted.  These  wretched  men  were  beyond 
the  limit  of  ordinary  Government  care,  and  had  wan 
dered  to  the  railroad,  possessed,  apparently,  with  but 
one  idea,  an  anxious  desire  to  escape  from  the 
horrors  of  the  place  which  the  battle  had  converted 
into  a  veritable  Aceldama.  The  manner  in  which 
the  ordinary  routine  of  Army  rule  is  thrown  into 
confusion,  after  a  great  battle,  when  many  of  the 
suffering  are  left  to  shift  for  themselves,  is  well  de 
scribed  by  an  eye-witness  of  the  fearful  suffering  at 
Gettysburg. 

"  This  is  the  way  the  thing  was  managed  at  first ; 
The  Surgeons  left  in  care  of  the  wounded  three  or  four 
miles  out  from  the  town,  went  up  and  down  among  the 
men  in  the  morning,  and  said,  '  Any  of  you  boys  who 
can  make  your  way  to  the  cars,  can  go  to  Baltimore.7 
So  off  start  all  who  think  they  feel  well  enough,  any 
thing  being  better  than  the  'hospitals,'  so  called,  for 
the  first  few  days  after  a  battle.  Once  the  men  have 
the  Surgeon's  permission  to  go,  they  are  off;  and  there 
may  be  an  interval  of  a  day,  or  two  days,  should  any 
of  them  be  too  weak  to  reach  the  train  in  time,  during 
which  these  poor  fellows  belong  to  no  one,  the  hospital 
at  one  end,  the  railroad  at  the  other,  with  far  more 
than  chance  of  falling  through  between  the  two.  The 
Sanitary  Commission  knew  this  would  be  so  of  neces- 


FKEDERICKSBURG.  383 

sity,  and  coming  in,  made  a  connecting  link  between 
these  two  ends."* 

The  wise  foresight  of  Mr.  Knapp,  who  first  organ 
ized  the  particular  form  of  relief  applicable  to  such 
cases  as  an  integral  portion  of  the  Commission's  gene 
ral  work,  had  provided  in  advance  at  Baltimore  all 
the  needed  appliances  for  this  service,  and  they  were 
despatched  by  the  Agents,  who  arrived  by  the  first 
train.  Tents  were  immediately  pitched,  cooking 
stoves  put  up,  food  prepared  from  the  stores  which  had 
been  sent  forward,  beds  and  bedding  were  found  and 
arranged,  so  that  that  very  night  seventy-five  suffering 
men  were  properly  sheltered,  and  supplied  with  nutri 
tious  food.  This,  however,  was  only  the  beginning  of 
the  good  work.  It  was  continued  for  more  than  three 
weeks,  gaining  constantly  in  efficiency  and  practical 
value  under  the  superintendence  of  two  ladies  who 
had  acquired  a  large  experience  in  this  particular  kind 
of  service  in  the  Peninsula.  When  it  is  remembered 
that  these  noble  women  did  not  permit  one  man  of  the 
sixteen  thousand  wounded,  Union  and  rebel,  w^ho  were 
transported  during  their  stay  to  General  Hospitals,  to 
leave  Gettysburg  without  a  good  meal,  and  without 
proper  attention  to  their  other  and  immediate  necessi 
ties,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  officers  of  the 
Commission  should  regard  the  record  of  its  Special 
Relief  work  at  Gettysburg  as  forming  one  of  the 
brightest  pages  of  its  annals.  To  show  the  spirit  with 
which  it  was  carried  on,  we  quote  once  more  from  that 
charming  little  brochure,  "Three  Weeks  at  Gettysburg" 
a  sketch,  which  may  safely  be  said  to  present  the  most 

*  See  "  Three  Weeks  at  Gettysburg." 


384  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

life-like  and  striking  picture  of  the  nature  and  value 
of  volunteer  relief  work  in  the  Army  which  the  lite 
rature  of  the  war  has  produced. 

"  Twice  a  day  the  trains  left  for  Baltimore  or  Har- 
risburg,  and  twice  a  day  we  fed  all  the  wounded  who 
arrived  for  them.  Things  were  systematized  now, 
and  the  men  came  down  in  long  ambulance  trains  to 
the  cars  ;  baggage  cars  they  were,  filled  with  straw  for 
the  wounded  to  lie  on,  and  broken  open  at  either  end 
to  let  in  the  air.  A  Government  Surgeon  was  always 
present  to  attend  to  the  careful  lifting  of  the  soldiers 
from  ambulance  to  car.  Many  of  the  men  could  get 
along  very  nicely,  holding  one  foot  up,  and  taking 
great  jumps  on  their  crutches. 

"When  the  Surgeons  had  the  wounded  all  placed, 
with  as  much  comfort  as  seemed  possible  under  the  cir 
cumstances,  on  board  the  train,  our  detail  of  men  would 
go  from  car  to  car,  with  soup  made  of  beef-stock,  or 
fresh  meat,  full  of  potatoes,  turnips,  cabbage,  and  rice, 
with  fresh  bread  and  coffee,  and,  when  stimulants  were 
needed,  with  ale,  milk-punch,  or  brandy.  Water-pails 
were  in  great  demand  for  use  in  the  cars  on  the  jour 
ney,  and  also  empty  bottles  to  take  the  place  of  can 
teens.  All  our  whisky  and  brandy  bottles  were  washed 
and  filled  up  at  the  spring,  and  the  boys  went  off  care 
fully  hugging  their  extemporized  canteens,  from  which 
they  would  wet  their  wounds,  or  refresh  themselves 
till  the  journey  ended.  I  do  not  think  that  a  man  of 
the  16,000,  who  were  transported  during  our  stay, 
went  from  Gettysburg  without  a  good  meal — rebels 
and  Unionists  together,  they  all  had  it,  and  were 
pleased  and  satisfied.  "Have  you  friends  in  the 


FREDERICKSBURG.  385 

Army,  madam  ?"  a  rebel  soldier,  lying  on  the  floor  of 
the  car,  said  to  me,  as  I  gave  him  some  milk.     "  Yes, 

my  brother   is   on   's   staff."     "  I  thought  so, 

ma'am.  You  can  always  tell ;  when  people  are  good 
to  soldiers,  they  are  sure  to  have  friends  in  the  Army." 
The  ministrations  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  on 
the  battle-field  of  Gettysburg  were  not  confined  to  the 
sufferers  of  our  own  Army.  In  accordance  Eelief  to  the 

.  .     .  ,.  ,  .  wounded  rebels 

with  its  constant  policy  on  such  occasions,  a  at  Gettysburg, 
policy  dictated  by  the  highest  considerations  of  hu 
manity  and  Christian  duty,  it  recognized  neither  friend 
nor  foe  among  the  wounded.  There  were  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  of  the  enemy  in  our  own  Hospitals, 
cared  for  as  our  own  men  were  cared  for  by  our  Sur 
geons.  There  were,  besides,  nearly  fifty-five  hundred 
of  their  wounded  occupying  Hospitals  which  had  been 
established  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the 
town  previous  to  and  during  the  battle,  and  filling 
besides,  all  the  barns  and  houses  for  miles  on  the  roads 
leading  to  Cashtown  and  Chambersburg.  These  men 
had  been  abandoned  by  their  Army  in  its  retreat,  and 
were  in  a  most  deplorable  condition  of  suffering  and 
destitution.  They  were  without  Hospital  supplies  or 
even  ordinary  rations,  and  were  saved  from  starvation 
only  by  the  stores  of  the  Government  against  which 
they  were  fighting.  The  state  of  these  Hospitals 
claimed  the  attention  and  kind  services  of  an  organi 
zation,  whose  principles  did  not  permit  it  to  see  an 
enemy  in  a  suffering  brother  upon  a  battle-field,  and 
although  its  means  of  relieving  these  men  had  been 
somewhat  diminished  by  that  barbarous  act  of  inhu 
manity  of  which  we  have  spoken,  the  capture  of  a 

49 


386  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

large  amount  of  stores  on  their  way  to  the  battle-field 
intended  for  the  relief  of  all  alike,  still  invaluable  aid 
was  rendered  to  them  for  many  days.  Dr.  Gordon 
Winslow,  one  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Commission,  was 
charged  with  the  duty  of  visiting  these  Hospitals, 
ascertaining  their  wants,  and  offering  such  assistance  as 
might  be  required.  He  found  the  enemy's  wounded 
occupying  twenty -four  different  camps  within  an  area 
of  twelve  miles.  Most  of  the  wounds  were,  of  course, 
severe,  for  those  who  had  been  able  to  move  at  all, 
or  who  could  be  removed  by  the  retreating  Army 
with  its  limited  means  of  transportation,  had  been 
carried  off.  Our  own  officers  were  too  busily  engaged 
at  that  time  in  providing  for  the  wants  of  their  own 
men,  to  bestow  any  other  care  upon  those  of  the  enemy 
outside  our  own  Hospitals  than  such  as  might  keep  them 
from  actual  starvation.  When,  therefore,  Dr.  Winslow 
called  upon  the  Rebel  Surgeons,  explained  to  them 
the  nature  of  the  work  of  the  Commission,  and  offered 
to  supply  their  wants  from  its  stores,  the  astonishment 
and  gratitude  of  those  officers  were  expressed  in  no 
measured  terms.  They  eagerly  availed  themselves  of 
his  offers,  and  one  of  the  strangest  of  the  many 
strange  and  wonderful  sights  of  which  the  Commis 
sion's  depot  at  Gettysburg  was  the  scene  after  the 
battle,  was  the  mingling  in  that  busy  crowd  of  friend 
and  foe,  National  uniform  and  Confederate  uniform, 
Union  army  wagon  and  rebel  army  wagon,  all  engaged 
in  the  common  work  of  helping  the  suffering,  and 
seeking  aid  from  a  source  which  dispensed  with  im 
partial  bounty  its  relief  to  the  wretched  victims  of  the 
battle-field. 


on 
service. 


FREDERICKSBURG.  387 

There  is  certainly  nothing  finer  in  its  impulse,  or 
more  creditable  to  the  civilization  and  humanity  of 
the  people  of  the  North,  than  their  willing-  Eeflections 
ness  to  share  with  their  enemies  the  bounty  this 
which  they  had  provided  for  their  own  suffering  bre 
thren.  It  is  one  of  the  many  striking  evidences  which 
existed  of  the  strong  desire  which  that  people  always 
manifested  that  the  war  should  be  conducted  upon 
every  principle  of  humanity  consistent  with  its  success 
ful  prosecution.  War  is,  necessarily,  always  a 
terrible  agent  of  destruction.  Its  track  is  that  of  de 
solation  and  ruin,  and  its  rule  that  of  arbitrary  force. 
Christian  civilization  may  mitigate  its  horrors,  but  it 
can  never  change  its  essential  cruelty.  Every  attempt 
to  alleviate  its  misery  consistent  with  its  active  prose 
cution  should  be  recorded  for  the  encouragement  of 
those,  whose  best  instincts  teach  them  that  they  have 
not  ceased  to  be  men,  and  Christians,  because  war  has 
caused  them  to  become  enemies. 

The  unexpected  and  timely  aid  furnished  by  the 
Commission  to  the  enemy's  wounded,  made  such  an 
impression  upon  their  Surgeons,  and  con-  Effect  of  this  re- 
vinced  them  so  completely  of  the  impartial  my,  °U 
spirit  of  humanity  which  guided  its  operations,  that 
every  one  of  those  left  at  Gettysburg  joined  in  a  re 
quest  to  General  Lee  for  the  release  of  Dr.  McDonald 
and  the  other  Agents  of  the  Commission  who  had 
been  made  Prisoners  of  war  by  his  Army.  The  na 
ture  and  character  of  the  work  of  the  Commission,  the 
inestimable  benefits  which  their  own  men  had  derived 
from  it,  and  the  relations  of  the  captured  Agents  to  it 
were  fully  set  out  in  this  petition.  Strange  to  say, 


388  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

these  representations  of  their  own  officers  made  no 
impression  upon  the  Rebel  Authorities,  and  these 
faithful  Agents  were  permitted  to  languish  in  prison 
for  months  afterwards,  and  until  influences  of  another 
kind  effected  their  release. 

The  battle-field  of  Gettysburg  was  quite  as  remark 
able  for  the  striking  opportunity  it  gave  of  proving 
Necessity  of  vo-  the  indispensable  necessity  of  volunteer  aid 

lunteer  relief  at    . 

Gettysburg,  in  such  an  emergency,  as  for  the  amount  of 
the  supplies  which  were  distributed,  or  the  spirit  of 
zeal  and  devotion  which  characterized  all  those  en 
gaged  in  this  merciful  work.  The  Commission's  Offi 
cers,  who  had  experience  in  this  matter,  always  insisted 
that  even  where  an  Army  after  a  battle  did  not  move  in 
pursuit  of  the  enemy  extra  governmental  relief  was 
needed.  But  here  was  a  battle-field  from  which  the  com 
batants  on  both  sides  disappeared  within  two  days  after 
the  conflict  ceased,  leaving  behind  them  more  than 
twenty-two  thousand  men,  whose  condition  required  not 
only  immediate,  constant,  and  skillful  care,  but  a  large 
quantity  of  hospital  supplies.  The  Army  organiza 
tion  which,  in  theory,  was  to  provide  for  all  these 
wants,  accompanied  the  onward  march,  leaving  but  a 
very  imperfect  representation  of  its  various  depart 
ments  to  look  after  those  who  had  fallen.  This  was, 
of  course,  a  matter  of  necessity,  for  it  was  evidently 
the  duty  of  the  Commander  to  press  on  with  the  Army 
prepared  to  meet  just  such  another  contingency  as  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg.  General  Meade  himself  has  said, 
"  I  expected  in  a  few  days  a  battle  at  a  distant  point, 
and  it  was  absolutely  necessary  I  should  carry  away  the 
greater  portion  of  our  surgeons  and  medical  supplies, 


GETTYSBURG.  389 

so  that  the  wounded  at  Gettysburg  were  in  a  measure 
dependent  upon  such  extra  assistance  as  the  Govern 
ment  could  hastily  collect,  and  upon  the  generous  aid 
so  cheerfully  and  promptly  afforded  by  the  Sanitary 
and  Christian  Commissions,  and  the  various  State,  and 
Soldiers'  Aid  Societies.  All  the  additional  aid  from 
every  source  was  here  most  urgently  needed,  and  it 
gives  me  great  pleasure  to  say  that,  from  the  reports 
of  my  medical  officers,  I  am  satisfied  the  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission,  as  well  as  the  others 
above  mentioned,  were  fully  up  to  the  work  before 
them." 

On  the  whole,  the  record  of  the  services  of  the  Com 
mission  in  the  campaign  which  terminated  in  this 
great  battle,  is  a  highly  satisfactory  and  en-  Commission's 

j  •  •  n     u          1,1    Agents  on  that 

couragmg  one,  and  is  especially  honorable  battie-fieia, 

to  the  zeal  and  fidelity  of  the  Agents  by  whose  unre 
mitting  labor  the  work  was  done.  Whether  we  look 
at  the  provident  foresight  which  had  accumulated  at 
the  centres  of  supply,  a  large  reserve  stock  in  anticipa 
tion  of  the  battle,  or  at  the  determined  energy  with 
which  these  supplies  were  rapidly  pushed  forward  to 
the  field  in  spite  of  broken  communications  and  limited 
means  of  transportation,  whether  we  recall  the  faithful 
and  untiring  devotion  of  the  Relief  Agents,  four  of 
whom,  as  we  have  seen,  were  captured  while  in  the 
discharge  of  their  humane  duties,  and  most  of  whom 
were  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy  while  bringing 
succor  to  the  wounded,  or  if,  lastly,  we  consider  the 
grand  result  of  all  this  self-denying  labor,  the  mani 
fest  relief  afforded  to  more  than  twenty-two  thousand 
victims  of  the  battle,  we  are  constrained  to  believe  that 


390  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

never  has  so  vast  a  work  of  mercy  been  performed  in 
a  manner  so  satisfactory  and  efficient. 

After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  the  Field  Relief 
Corps  was  somewhat  reorganized,  each  Army  Corps 
The  Army  re-  having  permanently  attached  to  it,  for  its 

turns  to  the  Ra-  .    ,  .  J 

special  service  a  certain  number  of  its  mem 


bers  under  a  Superintendent,  whose  duties  were  con 
fined  to  ascertaining  and  relieving  the  wants  of  the 
particular  portion  of  the  Army  confided  to  him.  This 
was  not  unlike  the  former  system  in  principle.  It 
was  simply  a  more  thorough  division  of  labor,  by  which 
it  was  hoped  greater  efficiency  would  be  secured. 
Under  this  organization,  the  Relief  Corps  crossed  the 
Potomac  with  the  Army,  and  accompanied  it  in  its 
long  and  wearisome  pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  the  Rapi- 
dan.  The  history  of  its  services  during  the  move 
ment  of  the  Army  to  Centreville,  and  back  again  to 
Culpepper,  and  during  its  long  stay  in  winter-quar 
ters,  presents  nothing  very  novel  or  striking.  It  was 
occupied  in  its  regular,  steady,  current  relief  work  by 
its  ordinary  means,  and  these  have  been  so  often  de 
scribed  and  the  result  was  so  similar  to  that  which  was 
observed  on  former  occasions,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
enlarge  upon  it  further  here.  The  Headquarters  of  the 
Commission  were  at  Brandy  Station,  and  here,  were 
combined  its  methods  of  General  Relief  in  the  Hospi 
tals,  and  the  camps,  with  those  of  Special  Relief,  tech 
nically  so  called.  This  latter  form  of  aid  often  proved  a 
precious  boon  to  those  waifs  and  strays  of  the  Army 
to  whom,  in  their  forlorn  condition,  a  few  meals  and  a 
night's  lodging  represented  the  highest  form  of  prac 
tical  benevolence. 


THE    WILDERNESS.  391 

The  winter  was  passed  by  every  branch  of  the  Army 
service,  and  by  all  the  benevolent  organizations  con 
nected  with  it,  in  making  large  preparations  Preparations  for 
for  the  Spring  campaign.  The  Chief  In-  paign  of  1864, 
spector  of  the  Commission  with  the  Army  made  a 
requisition  on  the  Central  Office  for  supplies  based 
upon  an  estimate  of  what  would  be  required  for  the 
wants  of  ten  thousand  wounded  men.  A  large  re 
serve  stock,  drawn  from  the  sources  of  supply  at  the 
branch  dep6ts,  was  accumulated  at  Washington,  and 
arrangements  were  made  to  send  forward  stores 
either  by  land  or  by  water,  as  either  might  be  selected 
as  the  line  of  communication  with  the  base.  When 
the  Army  crossed  the  Rapidan,  seven  four-horse 
wagons  containing  food,  stimulants,  and  clothing,  in 
charge  of  the  Field  Relief  Corps  accompanied  it. 
They  were  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  WARNER 
JOHNSON,  whose  faithful,  intelligent,  and  disinterested 
service  during  a  period  of  more  than  two  years  and  a 
half,  forms  one  of  the  most  striking  examples  of  pure 
and  unselfish  zeal  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  the 
Commission.  These  stores  were  dispensed  during  the 
terrible  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  and  the  wagons 
were  sent  to  Belle  Plain,  via  Fredericksburg,  to  be 
replenished.  When  the  Potomac  River  was  finally 
decided  upon  as  the  line  of  communication  with  the 
Army,  the  stores  which  had  been  accumulated  at 
Washington  were  despatched  to  Belle  Plain.  In  order 
to  give  some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
undertaken  by  the  Commission,  and  the  means  at  its 
disposal  for  accomplishing  it,  we  should  state  that  at 
the  opening  of  the  campaign,  two  steamboats,  and  two 


392  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

barges  were  employed  by  it  for  the  conveyance  of 
stores  from  Washington  to  the  base  of  the  Army,  that 
forty-four  four-horse  wagons  constituted  its  indepen 
dent  means  of  transportation  from  Belle  Plain  to 
Fredericksburg,  that  by  this  means  more  than  two 
hundred  tons  of  stores  were  sent  to  points  where 
they  were  most  needed,  while  at  the  same  time  nearly 
two  hundred  Relief  Agents,  including  the  Field  Re 
lief  Corps,  the  Auxiliary  Relief  Corps,  and  the  Special 
Relief  Corps,  were  engaged  in  giving  their  personal 
services  to  the  wounded. 

We  have  already  described  the  condition  of  the 
wounded  at  Fredericksburg  in  the  sketch  presented  of 
Work  after  the  the  peculiar  work  of  the  Auxiliary  Relief 

battles  of  the  -  J   . 

wilderness,  Corps.*  lliere  was  work  enough  in  the 
dark  days  which  succeeded  the  battles  of  the  Wilder 
ness,  to  occupy  fully  the  most  determined  zeal  of  every 
man  in  the  Commission's  service,  each  in  his  particular 
vocation  and  ministry.  There  was  not  a  moment 
from  that  in  which  the  hero  who  was  fighting  for  his 
country  was  disabled,  until  the  comparative  comforts  of 
a  General  Hospital  were  reached,  in  which  such  relief 
as  was  afforded  in  this  campaign  by  extra  Govern 
mental  agencies  was  not  of  priceless  value  in  soothing 
his  agony. 

The  number  of  the  wounded  during  this  campaign 
was  prodigious,  far  exceeding  that  which  had  been 
Vast  accmnuia-  anticipated  by  any  one.  Many  of  the 
-nlTat-  woun<ls,  of  course,  were  slight,  but  they  all 
portation,  caused  disability,  at  least  for  the  time,  and 
required  attention.  Nothing  can  better  illustrate  the 

*  See  ante,  page  276. 


FREDERICKSBURG.  393 

aggravated  suffering  which  these  wounded  men  under 
went,  than  some  account  of  the  embarrassments  which 
occasioned  delay  in  sending  them  to  a  place  where  they 
could  be  properly  treated.  The  ambulances  and 
Army  wagons,  as  they  arrived  at  Belle  Plain,  filed 
down  in  a  long  line  on  one  side  of  a  wharf  of  a 
horse-shoe  shape,  when  the  wounded  were  removed  to 
the  transports  moored  to  it.  The  wagons  having  thus 
discharged  their  living  freight,  passed  to  the  other 
side  of  the  wharf,  and  were  there  laden  in  turn  with 
"  fighting  rations"  for  the  troops  in  the  field.  It  will 
be  readily  seen  that  this  process  was  inevitably  a 
tedious  one,  so  much  so  indeed,  that  on  one  day,  a  con 
tinuous  line  of  vehicles,  laden  with  wounded  men 
stretched  from  the  wharf  at  Belle  Plain  to  Fredericks- 
burg,  a  distance  of  nearly  ten  miles.  The  result,  of 
course,  was  an  inextricable  jam,  which  caused  great 
delay  in  the  embarkation  of  the  men,  and  added  to 
the  suffering  caused  by  severe  wounds  that  produced  by 
hunger,  exhaustion,  and  the  rough  jolting  of  the  ve 
hicles.  To  relieve  completely  such  an  immense  mass 
of  misery  was  simply  out  of  the  question.  To  shorten 
the  agony  of  the  wounded  by  embarking  them  as 
rapidly  as  possible  on  the  steamers  was  the  task  to 
which  the  Medical  Authorities,  under  the  direction  of 
DR.  CUYLER,  Acting  Medical  Inspector- General  of  the 
Army,  devoted  themselves.  Hour  after  hour,  for 
days,  this  fearful  procession  of  the  victims  of  the 
battle  was  kept  up,  and  during  all  that  time,  Dr. 
Cuyler's  administrative  skill,  his  quick  and  ready 
humanity,  his  unselfish  disregard  of  personal  exposure 
while  striving  to  procure  shelter  for  the  wounded  were 

50 


394          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

always  conspicuous,  and  were  beyond  all  praise.  The 
Commission,  anxious  to  do  its  share  in  relieving  the 
wants  of  this  particular  class  of  sufferers,  directed  its 
attention  chiefly  to  supplying  them  with  such  food  and 
stimulants  during  their  journey  in  the  ambulances  as 
their  exhausted  condition  required.  Between  Belle 
Plain  and  Fredericksburg  it  established  three  Feeding 
Stations,  where  those  of  the  wounded  who  were  able 
to  drag  themselves  to  them  were  refreshed,  and  from 
which  supplies  of  hot  coffee,  beef  soup,  and  other  kinds 
of  nourishing  food  were  borne  to  those  who  were  un 
able  to  leave  the  ambulances.  When  we  remember 
that  this  picture  of  the  sufferings  of  the  wounded  on 
the  route,  frightful  as  it  is,  had  its  counterpart  in  the 
Hospitals  in  Fredericksburg,  it  will  be  readily  per 
ceived  that  the  power  of  adequately  relieving  such 
misery  far  transcended  all  the  means  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Government,  and  all  the  volunteer  aid,  both  in 
personal  service,  and  in  supplies  which  was  proffered 
to  it.  Viewed  in  the  light  of  the  experience  shed 
upon  it,  by  the  results  of  the  battles  of  the  Wilder 
ness,  the  doubt,  which  has  often  been  expressed  whe 
ther  there  is  a  place  for  voluntary  benevolent  effort  in 
an  Army  organization,  seems  like  an  insult  to  every 
humane  instinct  of  the  heart.  Vast  as  was  the  work 
performed  by  the  Government,  and  its  volunteer,  aux 
iliary  helpers  on  this  occasion,  and  laborious  and  self- 
denying  as  was  the  zeal  of  all  who  were  engaged  in 
the  service  of  succoring  the  wounded,  the  mournful 
impression  still  remains  when  all  was  clone,  of  the  utter 
inadequacy  of  the  best  appointed  means  of  mitigating, 


FREDERICKSBURG.  395 

as  the  heart  would  fain  desire,  the  horrors  of  scenes 
like  these.* 

In  the  onward  march  of  the  Army  it  became  unsafe 
to  send  the  wounded  to  the  rear  by  way  of  Fredericks- 
burg  as  the  roads  were  infested  by  guerilla  The  Amy  base 

T  1  J.'  I?      1  -x"  VJ  L       tranSfei>red         t0 

bands,  whose  notions  ot  humanity  did  not  port  Royal, 
forbid  their  capturing  the  trains,  and  plundering  the 
helpless.  Port  Royal,  on  the  Rappahannock,  was  se 
lected  as  the  new  base,  and  to  that  point  were  removed 
from  Belle  Plain  the  depots  of  all  the  supply  depart 
ments  of  the  Army,  including  that  of  the  Sanitary 
Commission.  Timely  notice  of  the  intended  change  of 
base  having  been  given  to  the  officers  of  the  Commis 
sion,  its  steamer  laden  with  supplies,  and  conveying  a 
large  number  of  Relief  Agents,  was  sent  to  Port  Royal, 
and  arrived  there  fortunately  before  any  of  the  wounded 
reached  that  place.  A  Lodge  and  Feeding  Station 
were  at  once  established,  and  every  preparation  made 
for  the  reception  and  care  of  those  who  had  fallen  on 
the  bloody  battle-fields  between  Spottsylvania  and  the 
North  Anna.  Soon  they  came,  these  fresh  victims  of 
this  terrible  campaign,  their  wretched  condition  sick 
ening  the  heart  with  the  thought  of  the  unending- 
misery,  and  fearful  sacrifice  of  all  that  is  precious  and 
noble  which  insatiate  war  demands,  but  rousing  the 
deepest  sympathy,  and  calling  forth  on  the  part  of  those 
in  whose  behalf  they  had  suffered,  the  most  persistent 
efforts  for  their  relief.  For  a  few  days  the  usual  busy 
scene  was  exhibited  at  the  Commission's  depot  at  Port 

*  From  the  3d  to  the  12th  of  May  inclusive,  the  Union  Army  sustained  a 
loss  officially  reported  at  3,300  killed  and  nearly  30,000  wounded.  In  this 
statement  are  reckoned  the  wounded  of  Spottsylvania. 


396  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

Royal.  The  wounded,  as  they  arrived,  were  fed,  and 
refreshed,  and  made  as  comfortable  as  was  possible  in 
their  condition,  and  were  then  transferred  to  the 
transport  steamers  in  waiting  for  their  conveyance  to 
Washington. 

The  work  at  Port  Royal  did  not  long  continue,  as 
the  advance  of  the  Army  towards  Richmond  required 
mite  House-  the  selection  of  another  water-base  in  nearer 

Battles  of  Cold 

Harbor,  communication  with  it.     White  House,  on 

the  Pamunkey,  the  well-remembered  Headquarters  of 
General  McClellan's  Army,  during  the  summer  of 
1862,  was  the  next  point  determined  upon  as  a  depot 
of  supplies,  and  thither  the  Agents  of  the  Commission 
repaired  with  their  stores,  persisting  with  unwearied 
zeal  in  their  determination  of  following  the  Army  as 
long  as  there  were  wounded  to  be  succored.  During 
the  first  ten  days  of  the  month  of  June,  the  Army  was 
engaged  in  a  succession  of  sanguinary  battles  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Richmond,  known  as  the  battles  of 
Cold  Harbor.  It  was  the  old  story  of  the  vain  attempt, 
proved  vain  by  the  experience  of  both  Armies  through 
out  the  war,  to  capture  by  assault  a  formidable  en 
trenched  position  when  defended  by  an  adequate  force. 
The  loss,  of  course,  on  such  occasions,  falls  most  hea 
vily  on  the  assaulting  party,  and  these  battles  added 
another  ten  thousand  wounded  to  swell  the  ghastly 
catalogue  of  the  victims  of  this  campaign.  These  men 
were  brought  from  the  battle-field  to  White  House, 
and  there  cared  for  by  the  Medical  Authorities,  assisted 
by  the  same  unwearied  devotion  on  the  part  of  the 
Commission's  Agents,  and  by  the  same  abundant  stores 


THE    WILDERNESS.  397 

at  their  disposal,  as  had  been  so  lavishly  afforded  on 
previous  occasions. 

In  the  meantime,  a  portion  of  the  Commission's 
wagon-train  which  had  proceeded  overland  from  Fre- 
dericksburg  and  Port  Royal  reached  White  ™*J*B°**gi^ 
House,  after  having  been  exposed  to  immi-  train  arrives 
nent  danger  of  capture  on  the  route,  a  dan-  overland  /onte,6 
ger  which  was  escaped  only  by  the  courage,  energy  and 
skill  exhibited  by  Captain  Harris,  the  officer  in  charge 
of  it.  It  may  be  said  in  passing,  as  an  illustration 
both  of  the  practical  difficulties  attending  any  thorough 
system  of  Army  Relief,  as  well  as  in  just  recognition 
of  the  services  performed  by  the  Agents  of  the  Com 
mission,  that  this  wagon  train  was  brought  through  the 
enemy's  country  from  Fredericksburg  to  White  House 
without  losing  a  horse  or  a  man.  It  was  exposed  as 
was  the  Army  train  with  which  it  moved,  to  constant 
attacks  of  the  enemy,  and  was  frequently  under  fire, 
fortunately  without  receiving  any  great  damage.  Dur 
ing  the  occupancy  of  White  House  by  the  Union  forces, 
a  period  of  about  two  weeks,  it  was  employed  in  trans 
porting  from  that  point  to  "  the  front,"  at  Cold  Harbor, 
stores  designed  to  replenish  the  stock  of  the  Field 
Relief  corps. 

About  the  middle  of  June,  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac  crossed  the  James  River  to  City  Point,  where  in 
cooperation  with  General  Butler's  Army,  city  Point  Losses 
an  assault  was  made  on  the  works  which  m  the  campaign. 
defended  Petersburg.  Although  partial  success  at 
tended  this  movement,  the  Army  driving  the  enemy 
from  his  outer  entrenchments,  the  defenses  of  Peters 
burg  itself  proved  too  strong  to  be  taken  by  a  coup~de- 


398  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

main,  and  the  Army  soon  after  settled  down  to  a  con 
dition  of  comparative  rest.  How  much  needed  that 
rest  was,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  it  had 
fought  desperate  battles  with  an  entrenched  enemy 
during  nearly  every  day  since  the  beginning  of  the 
campaign,  a  period  of  six  weeks,  that  its  march  had 
been  fatiguing  and  exhausting  to  the  last  degree,  the 
troops  often  fighting  all  day  and  marching  all  night, 
and  that  its  food  had  been  an  insufficient  supply  of 
hard  crackers  and  salt  pork.  The  wasting  and  de 
structive  character  of  the  campaign  is  further  shown 
by  the  fearful  loss  the  Army  sustained  in  killed  and 
wounded.  From  May  4th  to  June  20th  no  less  than 
eight  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-seven  officers 
and  men  were  killed  and  forty-four  thousand  two  hun 
dred  and  sixty-one  were  wounded.  This  is  indeed  a 
fearful  record,  one  at  which  humanity  shudders,  and 
let  us  trust  that  the  horror  it  should  inspire  will  check 
forever  the  disposition  to  regard  war  in  any  other  light 
than  as  one  of  the  most  terrible  calamities  which  can 
befall  the  race. 

The  peculiar  hardships  of  the  campaign  rendered  it 
very  apparent,  that  when  the  Army  had  fought  its  way 
Distribution  of  through,  and  reached  a  permanent  base,  its 

anti-scorbutics,     vjta|    force    would    be    very    much  impajred) 

and  a  scorbutic  taint  would  be  found  to  prevail  among 
the  men.  To  guard  against  the  dangers  likely  to 
arise  from  such  a  condition  of  things,  the  Commission 
had  shipped  to  City  Point,  in  anticipation  of  the  arri 
val  of  the  Army,  a  large  quantity  of  preserved  vege 
tables  for  distribution  among  the  troops.  During  the 
month  of  June,  there  were  forwarded  no  less  than  103 


THE   WILDERNESS.  399 

tons  of  canned  tomatoes,  1200  barrels  of  pickled 
cucumbers,  18,000  gallons  of  pickled  onions  and  to 
matoes,  17,000  gallons  of  sauerkraut,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  other  anti- scorbutics.  These  articles,  on 
true  sanitary  principles,  were  not  intended  chiefly  for 
the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  Hospitals,  but  for  those 
who  were  working  in  the  trenches.  The  mode  of  dis 
tributing  them  adopted  by  the  Commission  was  novel, 
and  somewhat  peculiar.  Having  obtained  permission 
from  the  authorities,  the  wagons  laden  with  these 
precious  vegetables  were  driven  along  the  line  of  the 
trenches,  and  the  articles  actually  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  men  who  were  to  consume  them.  The  eager 
ness  with  which  they  were  received  by  the  men  is 
described  by  those  who  were  eye-witnesses,  as  abso 
lutely  "frantic,"  and  acknowledgements  of  the  inesti 
mable  service  conferred  on  the  troops  by  their  distribu 
tion  poured  into  the  office  of  the  Commission  at  City 
Point  from  the  Generals  Commanding  the  different 
Corps,  and  from  the  Medical  Officers  attached  to 
them. 

We  are  thus  brought  to  the  close  of  active  opera 
tions  in  that  memorable  campaign,  known  Amount  of  work 

.     .,        -rTT'i  ,  TTT       done  in  this  cam- 

as  the  campaign  ot  the  Wilderness.  We  paign-expenses, 
have  endeavored  to  show  that  the  Commission  made 
ample  preparations  for  the  exigencies  which  arose,  and 
that  by  means  of  its  three  branches  of  relief,  Field, 
Auxiliary  and  Special,  the  best  use  was  made  of  all  its 
various  appliances  of  succor.  Never  had  the  demand 
upon  its  resources  been  so  great,  or  the  services  of  its 
Agents,  more  ardent,  prolonged,  or  continuous.  Never 
also  had  a  grander  opportunity  presented  itself  for 


400  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

testing  the  practical  usefulness  of  its  methods,  and  never 
had  such  an  opportunity  been  so  well  employed.     It 
only  remains,  in  order  to  complete  the  picture  of  the 
vastness   of  its  work  in  this   campaign,  to  state  the 
amount  actually  expended  in  maintaining  its  opera 
tions  in  full    efficiency.     The  money  required  during 
the  months  of  May  and  June,  to  supply  the  wants  of 
the  Army  in  Virginia  alone,  exceeded  the  sum  of  five 
hundred   and  fifteen  thousand  dollars.     It  seems  in 
credible  at  first  sight,  that  so  large  a  sum  should  be 
needed  for  the  purchase  of  supplies  within  so  limited 
a  period,  and  equally  difficult  to  understand  where  the 
money  to  carry  on  the  work  on  this  grand  scale  was 
procured.     The  sufferings  of  the  soldier  which  were  re 
lieved   by  this   distribution   we  have   endeavored   to 
describe.      The  distribution  itself  was  made  possible 
by  the  very  large  sum  raised  in  the  spring  of  1864  by 
means  of  the  Metropolitan  Fair  in  New  York,  and  by 
the   steady   current   which   poured    the   golden   gifts 
of  California   into  the  Commission's  treasury.     This 
sum  represents,  of  course,  so  far  as  the  value  of  sup 
plies  is  concerned,  only  those  which  it  was  necessary 
to  purchase ;  a  vast  portion  of  the  articles  sent  to  the 
Army   were    contributions    from   the   homes   of   the 
country,  the  money  value  of  which  we  have  no  means 
of  estimating.     When  it  is  remembered  that  in  addi 
tion   to   this   half    million   of  dollars   spent   for   the 
relief  of  the  Armies  operating  against  Richmond,  it  was 
necessary  also  to  keep  up  the  Commission's  work  in  the 
Shenandoah   Valley  and    throughout   the  Southwest, 
to   say  nothing  of  that  in  the  General  Hospitals,  it 


THE   WILDERNESS.  401 

will  be  seen  that  it  is  not  difficult  to  answer  the 
question  which  was  so  often  asked  during  the  war, 
"  What  does  the  Sanitary  Commission  do  with  all  its 
money  ?" 

51 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MOEKIS  ISLAND—  OLUSTEE—  NEWBEKNE. 

THE  combined  naval  and  military  expedition  which 
was  sent  against  Port  Royal  in  South  Carolina,  towards 
commission's  the  close  of  the  year  1861.  was  accompanied, 

Agents  with  the 

expedition  as  has  been  stated,  by  Agents  of  the  Com- 
*  mission.      Contrary  to  general  expectation, 


the  attack  on  Charleston,  from  the  land  side,  was 
delayed,  and  the  army  remained  in  a  state  of  compara 
tive  inactivity  for  many  months.  The  first  object  of 
the  authorities,  after  gaining  a  foothold,  was  to  occupy 
all  the  important  military  positions  on  the  coast  from 
Morris  Island  to  St.  Augustine.  The  operations 
intended  to  accomplish  this  purpose  were  chiefly  con 
ducted  by  the  navy,  and  although  garrisons  were  es 
tablished  at  eleven  different  points  within  the  Depart 
ment,  little  opposition  was  met  with,  and  the  troops 
were  exposed  to  none  of  those  privations  and  dangers, 
which  marked  the  campaigns  we  have  hitherto  de 
scribed.  The  Army  was  distributed  in  small  detach 
ments,  having  easy  communication  by  water  with  its 
Headquarters  at  Beaufort,  and  with  the  North.  It 
was  composed  mainly  of  New  England  regiments, 
and  the  men  were  intelligent,  obedient  to  disci 
pline,  and  trained  to  self-reliant  habits.  They  were 
abundantly  provided  by  the  Commissary  with  the 

402 


MOERIS    ISLAND.  403 

ordinary  rations  and,  owing  to  their  small  numbers, 
escaped  danger  from  those  multiform  evils  which  lurk 
around  crowded,  ill- ventilated,  and  badly  policed 
camps. 

The  fear  which  existed  in  regard  to  maintaining  the 
efficiency  of  the  troops  was  founded  upon  the  enforced 
inactivity  of  the  life  they  led,  and  the  pro-  Reputed  un- 
verbial  unhealthiness  of  the  climate  of  the  the  climate, 
region  in  which  they  were  stationed.  When  it  is  re 
membered  that  the  marshy  inlets  which  form  so  much 
of  the  coast  line  which  these  troops  occupied,  has  been 
long  considered  a  district  more  exposed  than  any  other 
on  this  continent  to  the  deadly  effect  of  malarious 
poison,  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  this  fear  was  well 
founded.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  in  a  part  of  the  country 
where,  as  we  had  always  been  told,  no  unacclimatecl 
white  person  could  pass  even  a  single  night  during  the 
autumnal  months,  without  imminent  risk  to  his  health 
and  life,  these  northern  troops  remained  for  years,  not 
only  without  showing  any  marked  ill  eifect  from  the 
climate, but  actually  exhibiting  a  sickness  rate  less  ele 
vated  than  that  of  any  division  of  the  Army.  Whether 
this  result  was  due  to  the  temperate  character  and  habits 
of  the  men  themselves,  or  to  the  unusually  light  duties, 
which,  as  soldiers,  they  were  called  upon  to  perform, 
or  to  the  sanitary  precautions  which  were  adopted  and 
enforced  by  the  military  authorities,  or  to  all  causes 
combined,  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  One  thing  is  certain, 
that  the  experience  of  the  northern  troops,  not  only 
on  this  coast,  but  in  the  Department  of  the  Gulf  where 
similar  climatic  conditions  existed,  seems  to  disprove 
the  long  cherished  theory  that  it  is  impossible  for  white 


404  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

persons  who  are  strangers,  no  matter  what  precautions 
they  may  take,  to  resist  the  deadly  effect  of  the  cli 
mate  and,  that,  therefore,  no  such  persons  can  live  and 
perform  manual  labor  in  that  region  and  yet  retain 
their  health  and  vigor. 

In  the  early  months  of  the  year  1863  preparations 

for  an  attack  upon  Charleston,  and  the  reinforcement 

Movement  Of  the  Army  by  many  unacclimated  regi- 

against  Charles-  J       J  J 

ton-Two  in-  ments,  seemed  to  open  a  field  for  the  syste- 
pointed,°r  ap~  matic  prosecution  of  the  Commission's  work 
of  inspection  and  relief.  Early  in  February,  there 
fore,  two  Inspectors,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  proved 
himself  afterwards  to  be  a  man  of  rare  qualifications 
for  the  task  assigned  him,  were  sent  to  Port  Royal. 
They  found,  as  we  have  said,  the  sickness  rate  among 
the  troops,  especially  among  those  who  had  been  long 
in  the  Department,  unusually  and  unexpectedly  low. 
The  narrow  strip  of  territory  then  occupied  by  us  had 
been  so  long  in  our  possession,  that  the  organization  of 
the  different  branches  of  the  service  had  assumed  a 
measurable  degree  of  completeness.  The  Hospital 
arrangements  were  excellent,  under  the  charge  of  effi 
cient  and  capable  men, who  were  fully  sensible  of  the 
absolute  necessity  of  precautionary  measures  to  in 
sure  the  troops  against  diseases  peculiar  to  the  climate. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  Agents  of  the  Commission 
were  cordially  welcomed,  and  by  their  judicious  coun 
sel,  and  by  the  timely  relief  they  were  enabled  to 
afford  to  those  who  were  in  need,  they  soon  made 
themselves  as  indispensable  in  aiding  to  maintain  a 
high  standard  of  efficiency  and  comfort  in  this  Army, 
as  they  had  done  in  others.  In  pursuance  of  the  or- 


MORRIS    ISLAND.  405 

dinary  method  adopted  by  the  Commission,  the  regi 
ments  at  the  different  posts  of  the  Department  were 
visited  and  thoroughly  inspected,  and  Captains  of  com 
panies  were  urged  to  apply  to  the  store-house  of  the 
Commission  for  whatever  might  be  needed  for  the 
comfort  of  their  men. 

In  the  absence  of  great  battles  requiring  the  pecu 
liar  kind  of  succor  which  had  been  so  lavishly  poured 
out  in  Virginia  and  in  the  West,  another  Transportation 
form  of  the  many-sided  system  of  relief  f. dis^ a,Tge.d 

J  J  disabled  sol- 

adopted  by  the  Commission  did  not  fail  to  fliers, 
find  its  appropriate  place.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  sol 
dier  who,  while  in  health  had  served  his  country  faith 
fully,  when  discharged  from  the  service  of  the  Govern 
ment  because  sickness  or  wounds  rendered  him  in 
capable  of  performing  that  service  any  longer,  passed 
at  the  same  time  beyond  its  care.  It  is  true,  the 
Government  undertook  to  transport  him  to  the  North, 
to  the  place  where  he  had  been  enlisted,  but  he  was 
unprovided  during  his  journey  with  that  sort  of  con 
venient  accommodation  which  his  enfeebled  condition 
required,  and  which  it  would  seem  that  the  Govern 
ment,  out  of  consideration  for  his  past  services,  if  from 
no  other  motive,  was  bound  to  give  him.  The  care  of 
men  in  such  circumstances  had  long  been  the  work  of 
a  distinct  Department  of  the  Commission,  and  the 
same  relief  was  afforded  at  Port  Royal  which  had 
proved  of  incalculable  benefit  to  discharged  men  at 
other  points.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  Commission's 
Inspector,  General  Hunter  set  apart  a  spacious  steamer 
with  capacity  for  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  beds, 
for  the  purpose  of  conveying  these  helpless  men  to 


406  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

their  destination  at  the  North.  To  the  equipment  of 
this  steamer  the  Commission  contributed  two  hundred 
and  fifty  beds,  and  other  necessary  articles,  and  the 
success  which  attended  this  effort  to  transport  the  suf 
fering  with  some  humane  consideration  for  their  con 
dition  fully  justified  the  experiment. 

Meanwhile,  preparations  were  going  on  for  the  first 
combined  attack  on  Charleston,  which  took  place  in 
Landing  on  tne  month  of  April,  1863.  Adequate  ar- 
Morris  island,  rangements  were  made  for  what  promised 
to  be  a  bloody  conflict,  but  in  consequence  of  the  failure 
of  the  naval  bombardment,  the  services  of  the  land 
forces  were  not  required,  and  of  course  there  was  no 
occasion  for  the  battle-field  relief  of  the  Commission. 
Early  in  July,  however,  military  operations  in  the 
vicinity  of  Charleston  were  renewed  under  another 
leader  with  great  activity,  and  upon  a  large  scale. 
General  Gilmore  removed  his  Army  by  transports  to 
Folly  Island,  the  object  being  to  gain  a  foothold  there, 
which  would  enable  him  to  pass  the  strait  which  sepa 
rated  it  from  Morris  Island,  and  thus  assault  Fort 
Wagner,  one  of  the  most  formidable  defences  which 
guarded  the  approach  to  Charleston.  This  plan  was, 
in  the  end,  successfully  carried  out,  but  not  without 
a  display  of  persistent  and  heroic  courage  on  the 
part  of  the  troops  of  which  there  are  few  parallels  in 
the  history  of  the  war,  a  courage  which  the  Agents  of 
the  Commission,  it  will  be  seen,  did  much  in  their 
own  way,  to  stimulate  and  to  strengthen.  So  com 
pletely  identified,  indeed,  are  the  labors  of  these 
Agents  with  the  history  of  the  siege  of  this  great 
stronghold  that  no  account  of  it  can  be  complete 


MORRIS    ISLAND.  407 

without  a  reference  to  the  very  important  part 
performed  by  them  during  its  progress.  The  nature 
and  methods  of  the  relief  afforded  by  them,  and  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  through  which  they  passed 
while  engaged  in  their  ministrations,  constitute  a 
chapter  in  the  Commission's  history  of  novel  and 
peculiar  interest. 

On  the  10th  of  July,  the  U.  S.  Brig  Dolphin,  with 
the  Sanitary  Commission's  flag  flying  at  its  masthead, 
and   laden   with   stores   in  anticipation  of  capture  of  the 
the  coming  battle,  accompanied  by  Agents,  ^°*lt  ^rort 
ready  to  give  their  personal  services  to  the  Wagner, 
care  of  the  wounded,  arrived  at   Folly  Island.     An 
assault  was  made  on  the  same  day  on  the  lower  works 
of  Morris  Island  and  was  entirely  successful,  the  enemy 
retreating  to  Fort  Wagner  at  the  other  extremity  of 
the  island.     On  the  next  day,  an  assault  was  made  on 
Fort  Wagner,  which  resulted  in  a  repulse,  in  which 
we  lost  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  men.     The  Agents 
of  the  Commission,  Dr.  Marsh  and  Messrs.  Day  and 
Hoadley,  with  their  assistants,  were  untiring  in  their 
well-directed  efforts  to  succor  the  wounded,  adminis 
tering  to  their  wants  in  the  temporary  Hospitals,  sup 
plying  them  with  clothing,  accompanying  the  ambu 
lances  to  the  transport  steamers,  and  furnishing  such 
additional  stores  as  might  be  needed  on  their  voyage 
to  Beaufort.     From  the   llth   to  the  18th  of  July, 
when  the  last  memorable  assault  on  Fort  Wagner  was 
made,  the  willing  strength  of  the  whole  command  was 
taxed  to  the  utmost  in  making  preparations  for  the 
conflict.      The   means   of    transportation   on    Morris 
Island  were,  of  course,  very  limited,  and  were  taken 


408          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

up  chiefly  in  conveying  ammunition,  and  supplies  of 
food  to  "  the  front."  Foreseeing  the  fearful  destitution 
of  the  wounded  in  the  impending  assault,  and  relying, 
as  experience  had  taught  the  Commission  it  must 
always  do  in  such  exigencies,  upon  independent  means 
of  transportation,  Dr.  Marsh  had,  during  the  interval, 
used  every  effort  to  accumulate  such  stores  as  would 
prove  most  serviceable  immediately  after  the  attack. 
He  succeeded  in  borrowing  from  the  Quartermaster 
some  common  row-boats,  and  taking  a  circuitous  route 
not  less  than  seven  miles  long,  through  an  inlet  of 
which  the  enemy  held  one  bank,  he  brought  his  pre 
cious  cargo  to  the  proper  point.  On  the  evening  of 
the  15th,  his  tents  were  pitched,  and  his  flag  floating 
at  "the  front."  After  consultation  with  the  General  in 
command  of  the  assaulting  column,  he  determined  to 
supply  every  man  in  it  with  beef  soup,  tea  and  biscuit. 
This  he  continued  to  do  at  intervals,  and  up  to  the  very 
hour  of  the  assault.  This  provision  was  absolutely 
indispensable  owing  to  the  temporary  deficiency  of  the 
ordinary  rations,  and  many  a  poor  fellow,  no  doubt, 
fought  on  the  terrible  night  of  the  18th  with  renewed 
courage  from  having  been  thus  supported  and  strength 
ened. 

The  assault  on  Fort  Wagner  it  will  be  remembered 
was  one  of  the  most  persistent  and  resolute  recorded 
Work  of  the  in  military  history.  Both  officers  and  men 
-  seemed  inspired  with  a  strong  determination 
to  capture  it,  as  the  key  to  Charleston,  cost 
what  it  might.  A  portion  of  the  column  after  crossing 
under  a  terrific  fire,  but  with  the  utmost  steadiness,  the 
ditch  which  separated  it  from  the  Fort,  and  storming 


MORRIS    ISLAND.  409 

the  parapet,  succeeded  in  gaining  possession  of  one 
angle  of  the  Fort,  but  not  being  properly  supported,  it 
was  obliged  to  relinquish  its  hard  earned  prize.  Mean 
while,  the  remainder  of  the  force  was  exposed  to  all 
those  terrible  means  of  destruction,  so  readily  em 
ployed  by  those  who  are  sheltered  in  fortified  positions, 
and  so  fatal  to  those  who  attempt  to  assail  them. 
Grape  and  canister  swept  through  their  ranks  as  they 
began  their  onward  movement;  a  sustained  fire  of 
musketry  greeted  them  as  they  came  nearer ;  as  they 
pressed  steadily  on,  they  were  raked  by  an  enfilading 
fire  from  each  side,  while  the  bursting  shells  sent  from 
distant  Sumter,  added  to  the  horrors  and  dangers  of 
that  fearful  night.  In  the  midst  of  this  terrible  scene 
of  carnage,  the  Commission's  place  was  one  which  had 
been  selected  solely  with  a  view  of  relieving  the 
wounded,  and  with  no  more  regard  to  the  personal 
safety  of  its  Agents  than  was  shown  by  those  whom 
a  soldier's  duty  called  upon  to  storm  the  work.  All 
the  arrangements  had  been  made  in  advance.  A  por 
tion  of  the  corps  acted  as  an  auxiliary  force  in  "  the 
front"  and  in  the  Hospitals,  another  assisted  the 
wounded  in  reaching  the  transport  steamers  which 
were  to  convey  them  to  Beaufort,  and  a  third  was  held 
in  reserve  for  any  unexpected  event  which  might  oc 
cur.  During  the  assault  many  were  wounded  as  they 
were  mounting  the  parapet  or  face  of  the  Fort.  Just 
beneath  them  was  a  wide  ditch,  which,  at  high  water, 
was  filled  to  the  depth  of  six  feet.  Into  this  ditch, 
therefore,  many  of  those  who  had  been  stricken  down 
on  the  parapet  rolled,  and  were,  of  course,  in  their  help 
less  condition  in  great  danger  of  being  drowned.  But 

52 


410  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

here  the  Commission's  helping  hand  was  not  withdrawn 
from  them.  During  the  assault,  its  Agents  were  sta 
tioned  in  boats,  in  this  ditch,  and  as  the  wounded  fell 
on  the  parapet  directly  above  them,  or  rolled  down 
into  the  water,  they  were  instantly  picked  up  by  these 
brave  and  devoted  men,  and  borne  to  the  Hospitals. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  these  men  had  none  of 
the  excitement  and  stimulus  of  example,  or  the  ambi 
tion  of  military  glory  to  encourage  them,  deeds  like 
these  shine  forth  with  a  lustre  as  brilliant,  in  all  the 
true  elements  of  heroism,  as  that  which  is  shed  by  the 
noblest  achievements  on  the  battle-field. 

But  the  struggle  for  the  possession  of  Fort  Wagner 
was  not  yet  over.  The  efforts  to  capture  it  by  coup-de- 
siege  operations  main  having  met  with  a  bloody  repulse,  it 

against  Fort  .         ,  ..  , 

Wagner.  was  determined  to  secure  its  possession  by 
the  tedious  but  sure  operations  of  a  siege  with  regular 
approaches.  This  process,  always  laborious  and  diffi 
cult,  was  rendered  doubly  so  in  this  instance  by  the 
character  of  the  soil  of  the  island,  consisting  alternately 
of  shifting  sand-hills  and  pestilential  swamps,  through 
which  it  was  necessary  to  construct  the  trenches.  The 
scorching  heat  of  the  climate,  and  the  debilitated  con 
dition  of  the  men,  worn  out  by  difficult  and  exhausting 
labor,  and  disheartened  by  the  failure  of  the  first  as 
saults,  still  further  embarrassed  its  progress.  Sickness 
began  to  prevail  in  an  alarming  degree  among  the 
troops.  A  decided  tendency  to  scurvy  became  appa 
rent,  and  very  soon,  in  many  of  the  regiments,  only 
one-half  of  their  number  was  fit  for  duty.  It  is,  in 
deed,  wonderful  that  siege  operations  could  be  carried 
on  at  all  in  the  face  of  such  obstacles,  for  all  expe- 


MORRIS    ISLAND.  411 

rience  would  seem  to  teach  that  no  Northern  Army  in 
such  a  climate,  in  mid-summer,  could  engage  in  any 
active  operations,  least  of  all  in  the  successful  prosecu 
tion  of  a  siege  involving  the  extraordinary  and  long- 
continued  labor  which  reduced  Fort  Wagner.  In  this 
alarming  emergency  every  effort  was  made  by  the  Me 
dical  Officers,  and  by  those  of  the  Commission,  not 
merely  to  restore  the  health  of  those  who  had  become 
disabled,  but  also  to  maintain  the  strength  and  vigor 
of  those,  upon  whose  ability  to  work  regularly  the  suc 
cess  of  the  siege  depended.  Immense  requisitions 
were  at  once  made  upon  the  Commission's  store-house 
in  New  York  for  everything  which  would  tend  to  pro 
mote  this  important  result,  and  these  requisitions  were 
met  with  a  liberal  alacrity  which  aided  essentially  in 
imparting  life  and  vigor  to  the  whole  command.  Large 
supplies  of  vegetables,  of  curried  cabbage,  of  pickles, 
onions,  vinegar,  and  lime  juice,  soon  arrived,  and  were 
distributed  to  the  troops,  not  only  in  the  Hospitals  but 
in  the  trenches  also,  and  it  was  not  long  before  a  de 
cided  and  gratifying  change  in  their  condition  was  ob 
servable.  Scurvy  soon  disappeared,  the  disease  seemed 
not  only  checked  but  eradicated,  and  with  it  disap 
peared  the  more  dangerous  tendencies  of  other  dis 
eases. 

The  extraordinary  services  rendered  by  the  Sanitary 
Commission  in  this  campaign,  the  change  produced 
in  the  general  condition  of  the  men  by  the  distribu 
tion  of  its  supplies  was  so  noticeable,  and  the 
source  whence  this  timely  aid  had  come  was  so  well 
recognized,  that  the  Commanding  General  issued 
an  order  testifying  his  appreciation  of  its  work,  its  flag 


412  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

was  saluted  by  the  grateful  regiments  as  they  passed 
it  on  their  way  to  the  intrenchments,  and  the  Medical 
Director  himself,  echoing  only  the  prayer  which  had 
gone  up  from  the  hearts  of  so  many  who  had  been 
cheered  and  sustained  in  their  direst  necessity,  ex 
claimed  with  genuine  fervor,  "  God  bless  the  Sanitary 
Commission." 

Another  feature  of  the  relief  afforded  by  the  Com 
mission  during  this  memorable  siege  deserves  notice. 
Large  supplies  A  prolific  source  of  disease  on  Morris  Island 
ItXfe  was  the  bad  quality  of  the  water  which  was 
Commission,  often  brackish,  and  always  impregnated  with 
decayed  vegetable  matter,  which  rendered  it  not  only 
very  unpalatable,  but  very  unwholesome.  This  was 
remedied,  to  a  considerable  extent,  by  the  distribution 
of  a  liberal  supply  of  ice,  nearly  four  hundred  tons 
having  been  shipped  from  New  York  for  the  use  of 
the  troops.  Thus  the  frozen  streams  of  Maine  were 
made  to  cool,  not  only  the  burning  lips  of  fever,  but  to 
assuage  the  thirst  produced  by  exhausting  toil  in  South 
Carolina.  Meanwhile,  the  siege  went  steadily  on,  and 
at  last  the  great  prize  which  it  had  cost  the  lives  of  so 
many  noble  and  heroic  men  to  secure  fell  into  our  pos 
session,  abandoned  at  the  moment  when  the  resistless 
progress  we  had  made  would  have  forced  its  speedy 
capitulation. 

This  siege  is,  perhaps,  the  most  remarkable  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  war,  remarkable  not  merely  for 


the   engineering   difficulties   overcome,   the 

rable  in  a  novel         .          .  . 

aspect,  scientific   skill   with   which   all   its   details 

were  conducted,  and  the  patient,  persistent  and  heroic 
bravery  of  the  troops,  but  remarkable  also  when  its 


OLUSTEE.  413 

true  history  is  known,  for  the  essential  aid  which  was 
rendered  in  bringing  it  to  a  successful  termination  by 
means  of  the  voluntary,  but  well-organized  sympathy 
of  the  American  people. 

After  the  capture  of  Fort  Wagner,  the  operations 
near  Charleston  were  confined  for  a  long  time  to  the 
bombardment  of  the  city,  which,  fortunately  J^^^J 
for  the  sake  of  humanity,  at  least,  caused  a  troops  after  the 

„  ...          ,,  fall   of  Port 

far  greater  consumption  ot  ammunition  than  Wagner, 
waste  of  life.  In  the  interval  between  this  period  and 
the  renewal  of  active  operations  in  the  field,  the  health 
of  the  troops,  by  rest  and  judicious  treatment,  was  re 
stored  to  the  condition  in  which  it  had  been  previous 
to  the  campaign  on  Morris  Island.  When  the  Army 
was  preparing,  six  months  afterwards,  for  the  expedi 
tion  to  Florida,  it  again  presented  the  extraordinary 
spectacle  of  a  body  of  northern  troops  operating  in  the 
unhealthiest  region  in  the  South,  and  yet  exhibiting  a 
sickness  rate  as  low,  at  least,  as  that  of  any  portion 
of  the  Army  actively  engaged  in  other  parts  of  the 
country. 

From  the  want  of  adequate  preparation  of  all  kinds, 
it  must  be  inferred  that  the  expedition  which  was  sent 
to  Florida  in  February,  1864,  under  General  Expediti(m  to 
Seymour,  was  not  expected  to  encounter  Plorida- 
serious  opposition.  Jacksonville  was  occupied  without 
resistance,  and  a  column  was  pushed  westward  in  the 
direction  of  Tallahassee.  The  expedition  was  accom 
panied,  of  course,  by  the  Agents  of  the  Commission, 
who,  while  sharing  the  general  impression  that  the 
campaign  would  be  a  bloodless  one,  were  nevertheless 


414  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

determined  to  be  prepared  for  all  contingencies.     How 
wise  was  this  foresight  we  shall  presently  see. 

The  Army  marched  for  several  days  without  meet 
ing  the  enemy,  but,  at  last,  on  emerging  from  a  long 
The  battle  of  and  narrow  defile,  it  encountered  him 
strongly  entrenched,  and  commanding  with 
his  guns  the  only  avenue  to  its  further  approach. 
The  marshy  nature  of  the  ground  rendered  the  de 
ployment  of  the  troops  impossible,  and  the  head  of 
the  column  having  incautiously  advanced  without  any 
suspicion  of  the  presence  of  the  enemy  close  to  his 
position,  was  met  by  a  terrific  fire  of  musketry  which 
soon  drove  it  into  a  disorderly  retreat.  This  produced, 
of  course,  confusion  in  the  rear,  where  the  Army  was 
moving  upon  a  narrow  causeway,  flanked  as  we  have 
said  by  swamps,  and  the  result  was,  that  the  repulse 
at  Olustee  was  one  of  the  most  disastrous  for  the  num 
ber  of  men  engaged  of  any  battle  which  occurred  dur 
ing  the  war.  Seven  hundred  wounded  and  exhausted 
men  thus  suddenly  required  the  care  and  services  of 
the  medical  officers.  As  there  had  been  no  expecta 
tion  of  a  battle,  no  preparations  had  been  made  for 
the  casualties  which  attend  one.  It  is  a  singular,  but 
instructive,  and  noteworthy  fact  that  the  only  medical 
supplies  belonging  to  the  Army  in  Florida  at  that 
time,  were  those  of  five  of  the  regiments  which  made 
part  of  the  expedition,  and  even  these  had  been  left 
behind  at  Jacksonville,  more  than  fifty  miles  distant 
from  the  battle-field,  for  want  of  transportation. 

This  was  an  opportunity  of  doing  good  which  the 
officers  of  the  Commission  did  not  fail  to  improve. 
They  had  proceeded  with  their  stores  to  the  terminus 


OLUSTEE.  415 

of  the  railroad,  a  point  about  fifteen  miles  Work  of  the 

.  Commission   af- 

from  Olustee.  There  they  remained  to  ter  that  battle, 
await  events,  and  there  they  met  the  routed  and  de 
moralized  Army  returning,  intent  apparently  only 
on  escaping  capture  by  the  pursuing  enemy.  The 
wounded  straggled  in  in  a  most  pitiable  condition,  and 
in  the  absence  of  any  other  provision  whatever,  they 
were  fed  and  clothed  from  the  Commission's  stores,  and 
placed  upon  beds  in  the  cars,  improvised  from  bed- 
sacks  and  hay.  Six  cars  laden  with  these  unfortunate 
men  had  been  already  despatched  to  Jacksonville,  and 
a  sufficient  number  remained  to  fill  at  least  three  more. 
At  this  juncture,  General  Seymour,  expecting  the  im 
mediate  approach  of  the  enemy,  ordered  all  the  govern 
ment  commissariat  stores  to  be  burned  to  prevent 
their  falling  into  his  hands,  and  strongly  advised  the 
Sanitary  corps  to  abandon  the  wounded  who  remained, 
lest  they  themselves  should  be  captured.  These  heroic 
and  devoted  men,  however,  fit  representatives  in  the 
remote  wilds  of  Florida,  of  the  intense  desire  of  the 
American  people  to  minister  to  those  who  had  suffered 
in  their  cause,  nobly  refused  to  quit  their  posts,  and 
quietly  proceeded  in  their  work  of  transporting  the 
wounded,  who  had  been  abandoned  by  the  Army,  to  a 
place  of  safety.  Fortunately  they  were  enabled  to  em 
bark  them  all  on  the  cars,  and,  after  incredible  exer 
tions,  brought  them  in  a  comparatively  comfortable 
condition  to  Jacksonville.  Such  invaluable  aid,  ren 
dered  under  such  circumstances,  deserved  a  fitting  re 
cognition  on  the  part  of  those  who  had  derived  benefit 
from  it,  and  it  was  thus  spoken  of  in  an  order  of  the 
General  commanding  the  expedition  : 


416  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


J 


HEADQUARTERS,  DISTRICT  FLORIDA, 
DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  SOUTH, 

JACKSONVILLE,  FLA.,  March  3,  1864. 

GENERAL  ORDERS — No.  10. 

I.  The  Brigadier-General  Commanding,  gratefully  recalls  to  the  recollection 
of  the  troops  of  this  command,  the  debt  incurred  by  them,  during  the  recent 
movements,  to  the  Sanitary  Commission  and  its  Agent,  Mr.  A.  B.  Day. 
Much  suffering  has  been  alleviated,  and  many  inconveniences  removed,  by  the 
energy  and  promptness  with  which  the  supplies  of  the  Commission  have  been 
placed  at  the  control  of  our  medical  officers ;  and  for  those  who  have  been  so 
benefited,  officers  and  men,  the  Brigadier-General  offers  his  own  and  their 
most  sincere  thanks. 

By  order  of  Brigadier-General  T.  Seymour. 

E.  M.  HALL, 

1st  Lieutenant  1st  U.  S.  Artillery, 
Acting  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

The  work  accomplished  by  the  Commission  after 
this  battle  is  interesting  and  instructive  on  many 
General  Eeflec-  accounts.  It  was  not  merely  because  a  vast 
tions,  amount  of  misery  and  suffering  was  re 

lieved  by  it,  but  also,  because  it  furnished  conclusive 
evidence  of  the  necessity  of  the  timely  and  opportune 
aid  afforded  by  an  organization,  which  seized  upon 
every  opportunity  of  filling  the  many  gaps  which 
experience  proved  were  always  left  in  the  humane 
care  of  the  suffering  during  active  military  operations. 
Here,  for  instance,  was  a  battle  fought  near  the  close 
of  the  third  year  of  the  war,  with  troops  who  had  been 
long  in  the  service,  and  who  must  be  presumed  to 
have  been  tolerably  well  organized,  and  yet  the  Army 
suffers  a  defeat  only  fifty  miles  from  its  base  of  sup 
plies,  without  possessing  any  means  whatever  of  suc 
coring  its  wounded.  The  excuse  in  this  particular 
case  may  have  been  want  of  transportation,  or  the 
improbability  of  a  battle,  or  inefficiency  in  certain 


OLUSTEE.  417 

branches  of  the  service,  but  the  true  explanation  is  to 
be  found  in  this  patent  fact,  that  the  real  business  of 
every  Army  and  every  General  who  is  in  earnest,  is  to 
fight  and  to  conquer,  and  not,  except  in  the  most  gene 
ral  way,  to  concern  themselves  about  the  care  of  the 
wounded  and  non-effectives.  This  mode  of  regarding 
the  matter  has  been  characteristic  of  all  Armies,  since 
wars  began  on  the  earth.  Victory,  the  defeat  of  the 
enemy  is  the  grand  purpose  and  aim  of  their  existence. 
The  triumphs  of  humanity  gained  in  the  merciful 
care  of  the  suffering  form  no  portion  of  the  renown  of 
the  most  famous  Generals.  Everything  must  be 
sacrificed  to  success.  The  well  men,  and  even  the 
horses  must  be  fed,  even  should  the  wounded  die  of 
starvation  and  neglect.  It  is  idle  therefore  to  expect 
that  the  Commander  of  an  army,  in  planning  his 
operations,  will  ever  be  affected  by  questions  about  the 
disposition  of  his  wounded.  All  this  may  be  very 
inhuman,  but  it  is  simply  War  in  its  true  spirit,  and 
wise  is  the  people  who  recognize  it. 

Any  sketch  of  the  relief  afforded  by  the  Commission 
to  the  troops  stationed  in  the  Department  of  the 
South  which  did  not  present  some  outline  Agents  of  the 

»    .,          ,  „    ..  .          Commission    in 

or  the  character  and  services  ot  its  superin-  this  department, 
tendent,  Dr.  Marsh,  would  be  very  incomplete.  No 
organization,  certainly  none  of  a  benevolent  kind,  was 
ever  served  by  men  of  more  capacity,  zeal  and  devo 
tion  than  the  Sanitary  Commission,  but  in  the  long 
list  of  its  faithful  Agents  it  would  be  impossible  to 
find  one  who  was  a  fitter  representative  of  its  true 
spirit,  than  he  who  had  charge  of  its  affairs  on  the 
Carolina  coast.  From  the  first  he  thoroughly  identi- 

53 


418  UNITED   STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

fied  himself  with  his  work.     By  his  counsel  and  judi 
cious  conduct,  he  commended  himself  to  the  medical 
officers,  and  established  relations  of  perfect  harmony 
with  them,  while  his  wisely  tempered  zeal  so  won  the 
confidence  of  those  of  other  branches  of  the  service, 
that  there  was  no  facility  which  he  could  ask  for  in  the 
execution  of  his  work  of  mercy,  which  they  were  not 
willing  at  once  to  accord  him.     The  extraordinary  ser 
vice  rendered  by  him  and  his  assistants  on    Morris 
Island,  and  afterwards  at   Olustee,  in  promoting  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  Army,  gained  him  the  uni 
versal  affection  of  the  soldiers,  and  received,   as  we 
have  seen,  a  striking  testimonial  from  their  General. 
For  more  than  two  years  he  remained  in  that  Army, 
broken  in  health,  but  pursuing  his  beneficent  labors 
with  unquenched  zeal.     In  this  long  service,  he  had 
come   to   look  upon  the  soldiers  almost  as   his  own 
children.      When  a  portion  of  the  Army  was  trans 
ferred  to  Virginia,  his  interest  in  all  that  concerned 
their  welfare  remained  undiminished.     Hearing  that 
the  Tenth  Army  Corps,  then  at  Bermuda  Hundred, 
was  suffering  from  a  want  of  Sanitary  stores,  owing  to 
some  difficulty  having  arisen  between   the   agents  of 
the  Commission  and  the  Medical  Authorities,  he  writes 
indignantly  to  the  Associate  Secretary,  "  It  is  too  bad 
that  the  Tenth  Corps  should  suffer.    I  have  known  them 
for  a  year  and  a  half.     There  are  no  truer  or  braver 
men  in  the  Army,  and  none  more  patient  of  suffering. 
They  are  noble  men.     Do  not  let  them  suffer.     Send 
some  resolute  man  to  them,  who  will  fear  neither  Dr. 
-  nor  the  Devil.     For  my  sake  send  a  fearless 
man,  and  send  him  immediately.     I  cannot  endure  the 


NEWBERNE.  419 

thought  that  the  heroes  of  Morris  Island  should  need 
lessly  suffer." 

The  Army  under  General  Burnside  which  captured 
Roanoke  Island,  and  afterwards  Newberne  in  North 
Carolina,  was,  accompanied  by  the  Agents  Work  ^  Nort]l 
of  the  Commission,  who  remained  with  it  Carolina' 
during  the  war,  seeking  by  the  usual  methods  to  pro 
mote  its  sanitary  interests.  The  troops  stationed  in 
that  Department  were  engaged  in  repelling  the  con 
stant  petty  attacks  of  the  enemy,  who  seemed  disposed 
to  render  their  occupancy  of  the  few  miles  of  the  coast 
which  they  had  gained  as  uncomfortable  as  possible. 
They  were  not  exposed,  however,  to  the  dangers,  fa 
tigues  and  privations  of  long  marches,  nor,  after  they 
had  gained  a  firm  foothold,  except  in  comparatively  few 
instances,  to  the  casualties  of  the  battle-field.  But  the 
unhealthiness  of  the  climate  proved,  in  the  end,  a  foe 
far  more  formidable,  and  far  more  difficult  to  resist 
than  the  armed  Rebels.  The  troops  occupying  this 
inhospitable  coast  were  scattered,  in  small  detach 
ments,  at  isolated  posts  from  Roanoke  Island  and 
Hatteras  Inlet  to  Fort  Macon,  Beaufort,  Morehead 
City,  and  Newberne,  the  last  named  town  being  the 
Headquarters  of  the  Department.  The  climate  of  this 
region  of  sand-banks  and  sluggish  rivers  is  prover 
bially  unhealthy,  and  during  the  autumnal  months 
especially,  miasmatic  fevers  prevail  to  an  alarming 
extent.  The  dismal,  tedious  life  led  by  the  soldier  at 
most  of  these  isolated  posts  was  one  not  calculated  to 
maintain  his  morale  at  least,  in  that  condition  in  which 
he  might  best  resist  the  insidious  poison  of  the  atmos 
phere.  Some  of  the  garrisons  were  so  far  out  of  easy 


420  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

communication  with  the  North,  that  they  were  de 
prived  of  many  of  those  articles  by  which  the  hard  lot 
of  the  soldier,  even  in  the  most  active  service  in  other 
parts  of  the  country  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  allevi 
ated.  The  result  was  inevitable,  and  had  been  clearly 
foreseen.  Scurvy  and  diseases  owing  their  malig 
nancy  to  a  scorbutic  taint  became  common. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  what  was  most  needed 
by  the  troops  in  that  Department  was  not  concentrated 
Hospital  Garden  f°°d  or  stimulants,  or  even  clothing,  articles 
atNewbeme.  which  figured  so  conspicuously  on  the  Com 
mission's  Supply-list,  but  an  abundant  supply  of  vege 
tables.  As  it  was  obviously  impossible  to  transport 
from  the  North  these  articles  in  sufficient  quantities 
it  was  resolved  to  try  the  same  experiment  of 
establishing  a  Hospital  garden  at  Newberne,  which 
had  proved  so  successful  at  Chattanooga,  Murfrees- 
boro',  and  Knoxville.  The  cooperation  of  the  au 
thorities  was  readily  secured,  and  by  order  of  General 
Peak  commanding  the  Department,  a  plot  of  fifty  acres 
of  suitable  land  was  assigned  to  the  Commission  for 
that  purpose.  Seeds  were  procured  in  New  York,  and 
sent  forward,  and  the  proper  implements  were  pro 
vided.  The  success  in  cultivating  this  garden  was 
very  gratifying.  In  one  week  in  the  month  of  Au 
gust,  1864,  more  than  three  hundred  bushels  of  vege 
tables  produced  by  it,  were  distributed  among  the 
troops,  and  the  fertile  soil,  and  skillful  husbandry  gave 
so  constant  a  supply  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  that 
the  unfavorable  symptoms  of  disease  which  had  ap 
peared  in  the  Army,  were  soon  sensibly  relieved. 
Two  days  in  each  week,  the  whole  yield  of  the  garden 


NEWBERNE.  421 

was  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  Navy,  at  that  time 
strongly  represented  in  the  waters  of  Albemarle 
Sound. 

While  the  Commission  was  thus  occupied  in  efforts 
to  counteract  the  progress  of  scurvy,  an  insidious  foe 
of  another  kind  suddenly  appeared,  which  Yellow  Fever 

.at  Newberne,  in 

threatened,  for  a  time,  the  complete  extermi-  sePtember,i864. 
nation  of  the  garrisons  at  Newberne  and  Beaufort. 
Yellow  fever,  that  fearful  scourge  of  the  towns  and 
cities  on  our  southern  coast,  from  the  visitation  of 
which  our  Army  had  been  most  happily  and  providen 
tially  spared  for  the  most  part  during  the  war,  broke 
out  with  great  violence  in  the  month  of  September, 
1864,  in  the  town  and  garrison  of  Newberne.  The 
origin  of  the  disease  was  clearly  traceable  to  defective 
sanitary  police  arrangements,  and  its  virulence  during 
nearly  six  weeks  was  intense.  The  15th  Connecticut 
Regiment,  which  was  doing  Provost  duty  in  the  town, 
was  first  attacked  and  suffered  most  cruelly ;  the 
Quartermaster,  the  Commissary  of  the  post,  the  Pro 
vost  Marshal,  the  Post  Master,  many  of  the  Surgeons 
and  nearly  all  the  clerks  and  employes  in  the  various 
departments  at  Headquarters,  were  attacked  by  the 
disease,  and  many  succumbed  to  it.  Every  one  of  the 
Sanitary  Corps,  except  its  zealous  and  efficient  Superin 
tendent  Dr.  Page,  were  prostrated  by  it,  but  fortu 
nately  all  in  the  end  recovered. 

Dr.  Hand,  the  Medical  Director  exhibited  a  heroic  de 
votion  to  duty,  and  an  unselfish  disregard  of  all  consid 
erations  of  personal  safety  throughout  these  Aid  affordea  by 
trying  scenes,  which  did  honor  to  the  pro-  the  Commission, 
fession  to  which  he  belonged,  and  to  the  service  of  which 


422  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

he  was  the  head  in  that  Department.  In  his  indefati 
gable  exertions  to  relieve  the  suffering,  he  was  zealously 
assisted  by  the  Commission's  Inspector,  Dr.  Page.  De 
prived  as  that  officer  was  by  the  pestilence  of  the  aid 
of  his  subordinates,  he  seemed  inspired  with  renewed 
energy  and  devotion  in  this  relief  service.  Night  and 
day  he  attended  to  the  wants  of  the  sick,  adding  to  his 
personal  services,  such  articles  from  the  stores  of  the 
Commission  as  would  promote  their  comfort,  and  facili 
tate  their  recovery.  Under  his  direction,  the  Board  of 
Health  was  reorganized,  three  hundred  negroes  were 
set  to  work  to  purify  and  thoroughly  cleanse  the  town, 
and  although  this  measure  had  unfortunately  been 
adopted  too  late  to  prevent  the  outbreak  of  the  dis-- 
ease,  its  result  clearly  proved  that  its  origin  was  due 
to  the  neglect  of  proper  sanitary  precautions.  The 
inestimable  services  of  this  gentleman  on  this  occasion, 
form  not  only  a  title  of  peculiar  honor  to  himself,  but 
the  recollection  of  them  was  cherished  with  a  feeling 
of  justifiable  pride  by  the  officers  of  the  Commission, 
for  it  proved  to  them  that  no  danger,  whether  en 
countered  in  the  form  of  the  deadly  pestilence,  or  amidst 
the  horrors  of  the  battle-field,  or  in  the  less  conspicu 
ous,  but  often  most  perilous  posts  to  which  they  were 
assigned,  ever  deterred  their  Agents  from  the  true  and 
faithful  discharge  of  any  duty. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  GULF. 

GENERAL  BUTLER  occupied  New  Orleans  at  the 
close  of  April,  1862.  His  Army,  which  was  mainly 
composed  of  New  England  regiments  of  Generai  But- 
excellent  material,  had  suffered  much  by  ^Expedition, 
overcrowding  on  the  transports  which  brought  it  from 
the  North,  and  afterwards  from  exposure  and  insuf 
ficient  rations,  while  encamped  on  the  barren  sandy 
waste  of  Ship  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis 
sissippi.  The  expedition  had  been  poorly  supplied 
with  articles  for  maintaining  the  troops  in  an  efficient 
condition,  for  those  were  the  days  of  our  early  expe 
rience,  and  the  Officers  wTere  charged  with  duties 
wholly  unfamiliar  to  them,  the  nature  and  extent  of 
which  they  were  forced,  according  to  the  Government 
policy,  to  learn  while  the  men  suffered.  Whatever 
inconvenience  occurred  during  the  voyage,  however, 
or  during  the  tedious  delay  which  preceded  the 
advance  on  New  Orleans,  was  forgotten  in  the  joyful 
enthusiasm  with  which  the  possession  of  that  City 
inspired  the  Army.  It  was  felt  on  all  sides  that  its 
capture  was  by  far  the  most  important  blow  which  the 
rebellion  had  yet  received,  and  pleasing  hopes  were 
entertained  by  many  that  the  end  was  now  nigh.  The 
loss  of  the  City,  however,  seemed  only  to  nerve  the 
enemy  to  new  desperation,  and  was  the  immediate  cause 


423 


424  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

of  the  strengthening  of  the  fortifications  of  Port  Hud 
son  and  Vicksburg,  the  reduction  of  which  strongholds 
was  to  cost  us  so  many  precious  lives,  and  to  postpone 
for  more  than  a  year  our  control  of  the  great  Father 
of  Waters. 

General  Butler's  force  was  considered  too  small  to 
attempt,  immediately,  expeditions  into  the  heart  of 

wtiwf  £ta  the  enemy's  country>  and  he  occupied  nim 
by  Mm-Resuits,  self  at  New  Orleans  chiefly,  in  consolidating 
the  fruits  of  the  victory  we  had  gained,  and  in  efforts 
to  render  our  possession  of  the  City  secure  and  perma 
nent.     Under  his  vigorous  administration,  the  most 
effective  sanitary  measures  were  adopted,  and  enforced. 
The  fear  of  the  outbreak  of  yellow  fever,  during  the 
summer  months,  and  the  danger  to  which  a  Northern 
Army  would  be  exposed  by  its  prevalence,  acted  as  a 
constant  stimulus  to  the  most  careful  measures  of  pre 
caution.     Fortunately  for  the  health  of  the  Army,  fears 
on  this  subject  were  so  firmly  rooted  in  the  minds  of 
the  Authorities,  founded  as  they  were,  on  the  familiar 
history  of  the  effects  of  the  epidemic  in  that  region, 
that  extraordinary  efforts  were  made  by  them  to  re 
move  all  causes  of  preventible  disease,   and,  as  the 
result  showed,  with  abundant  success.     The  city  was 
cleansed  under  General  Butler's  order  as  it  had  never 
been  cleansed  before,  a  rigid  quarantine  was  enforced, 
the  quarters   of  the  troops   in   the  Forts,  and  in  the 
various  camps  were  thoroughly  policed,  needless  ex 
posure  to  the  fierce  rays  of  the  tropical  sun,  or  to  the 
deadly  poison  of  the  night  atmosphere  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  the  swamps  was  avoided,  a  minute  care  was 
exercised  with  regard  to  the  clothing  and  food  of  the 


DEPARTMENT    OF    THE    GULF.  425 

troops  which  was  entirely  unknown  in  other  portions 
of  the  Army,  and  as  the  result  of  all  these  precautions, 
faithfully  carried  out,  the  summer  of  1862  was  passed 
not  only  without  the  appearance  of  yellow  fever,  but 
without  any  unusual  sickness  in  that  portion  of  the 
Arrny  which  remained  in  the  neighborhood  of  New 
Orleans.  Dr.  McCormick,  the  Medical  Director  of  the 
Department,  was  an  old  Army  Surgeon  who  had  been 
stationed  at  New  Orleans  for  many  years  before  the 
war  began,  and  knowing  well,  by  experience,  the 
peculiar  dangers  to  which  the  health  of  the  troops  was 
exposed  in  that  locality,  and  the  proper  course  to  be 
taken  to  guard  against  them,  employed  with  great 
energy,  all  the  means  at  his  disposal  for  that  purpose. 
Under  his  administration  the  Sanitary  Commission 
found  little  to  do  in  providing  for  the  wants  of  the 
troops  in  garrison,  but  it  was  thought  advisable  that  a 
thorough  inspection  of  the  various  regiments  should 
be  made  so  that  the  peculiar  condition  and  history  of 
each  might  be  known,  as  a  guide  in  future  measures  of 
relief  should  they  become  necessary.  These  inspec 
tions  revealed  a  most  extraordinary  state  of  things  in 
regard  to  the  health  of  the  Army.  Early  in  July,  1862, 
the  whole  number  of  sick  in  that  Department,  in  Regi 
mental  and  General  Hospitals,  was  only  four  hundred 
and  seventy-two  out  of  a  force  of  about  twenty  thou 
sand  men  (nineteen  regiments  of  infantry  and  seven 
batteries)  less  than  2J  per  cent.  This  result  was  due 
partly,  of  course,  to  light  duties,  and  good  rations,  in 
cluding  vegetables,  and  an  abundance  of  fresh  meat, 
but  also,  no  doubt,  to  a  great  extent,  to  preventive 
sanitary  measures  rigidly  and  constantly  enforced  in 

54 


426  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

the  camps  and  garrisons.  This  favorable  state  of 
health  among  the  troops  in  the  Department  of  the 
Gulf  was  maintained  during  the  whole  war.  In 
November,  1863,  the  experienced  Inspector  of  the 
Commission,  Dr.  Crane,  writes,  "  I  have  never  seen  so 
little  disease  among  troops  in  the  field.  But  little 
over  four  per  cent,  of  the  present  force  is  on  the  sick 
list."  This  is  another  curious  illustration  of  the 
fallacy  of  calculations  made  before  the  war  as  to  the 
possibility  of  effectually  subduing  the  rebellion,  based 
on  the  alleged  inability  of  Northern  troops  to  resist  the 
peculiar  dangers  of  the  climate.  It  is  certainly  very 
remarkable,  that  a  far  higher  health-rate  was  main 
tained  during  the  war  among  the  troops  on  the  coast  of 
Carolina,  and  the  Delta  of  the  Mississippi,  than  in  the 
mountainous  regions  of  Tennessee  and  Virginia. 

With  the  exception  of  the  expedition  which  failed 
in  the  attempt  to  construct  a  canal  opposite  Yicksburg, 
General  Banks  and  the  severe  battle  which  took  place  in 
mS8a7ae8ofC°the  the  montn  of  August  at  Baton  Rouge,  the 
Army,  troops  under  General  Butler  were  not  en 

gaged  in  offensive  operations  on  a  large  scale  during 
the  remainder  of  the  year.  Towards  its  close,  General 
Banks  arrived  with  large  reinforcements,  and  assumed 
the  command  of  the  Department.  Active  operations 
were  soon  afterwards  begun  in  the  country  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  the  Army  fighting  its  way  through  the 
Teche  and  Atchafalaya  region,  Alexandria  on  the  Red 
River  being  the  objective  of  the  campaign.  Its  march 
was  a  series  of  victories,  not  gained,  however,  without 
some  severe  fighting  on  our  part.  In  the  early  part 
of  April  took  place  the  battle  at  Franklin,  in  which  our 


DEPAKTMENT    OF    THE    GULF.  427 

loss  in  wounded  was  considerable.  Dr.  The  battle  of 
Crane,  the  Sanitary  Inspector  who  had  ac-  Franklin' 
companied  the  Army  with  his  corps,  was  requested 
by  the  Medical  Director  to  look  after  the  comfort  of 
these  men  during  their  transportation  to  Brashear  City 
and  New  Orleans.  Having  been  placed  in  charge  of 
the  steamer,  he  superintended  the  removal  of  patients 
from  the  Hospitals,  took  care  that  they  were  well  fed, 
and  properly  attended  to  on  board,  and  on  their  arrival 
at  Brashear  placed  them  in  railroad  cars,  and  provided 
them  with  such  means  of  relief  and  sustenance  as  they 
would  need  until  they  reached  the  General  Hospitals 
at  New  Orleans.  The  services  rendered  on  this  occa 
sion  did  not  differ  from  those  which  we  have  so  fully 
described  as  given  to  those  who  had  suffered  on  the 
battle-  fields  of  Virginia.  They  are  referred  to  here 
merely  to  show  the  extent  of  the  operations  of  the 
Commission,  and  its  thorough  system  of  organization 
by  which  it  was  enabled  to  afford  the  same  priceless 
relief  at  the  same  time,  and  by  the  same  methods,  at 
points  two  thousand  miles  distant  from  each  other, 
in  the  wild  and  remote  region  of  Western  Louisiana, 
and  within  sight  of  the  National  Capitol.  It  is,  in 
deed,  not  a  little  remarkable  that  a  scene  such  as  is 
described  in  the  following  letter  could  have  been  wit 
nessed  in  the  far  Southwest,  in  a  Department  presumed 
to  be  almost  inaccessible  to  the  reach  of  that  kindly 
succor  which  was  constantly  extended  to  the  relief  of 
the  Armies  in  Virginia  and  at  the  West. 

"  *  *  *  I  have  seen  empty  old  build 
ings,  as  by  magic,  assume  in  a  day  the  air  of  comfort 
and  order  of  arrangement  of  long-established  city 


428          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

hospitals.     Not  soon  shall  I  cease  to  warm  over  the 
recollection  of  some  of  these  transformations.      For 
example,  men  to  the  number  of  several  hundreds,  after 
the  fight  at  Bisland,  were  brought  to  Berwick  City  in 
flat-boats,  skiffs,  and  little  steamers,  wounded  in  every 
conceivable  manner.     They  had  received  all  the  atten 
tion  that  good  medical  skill  could  afford  amid  the  din 
and  smoke  of  actual  conflict,  but  were,  so  dirty,  black, 
and  uncomfortable,  as  not  to  be  recognized  by  their 
most  intimate  friends,  until  the  renovating  hands  of 
tender  nurses  had  washed  away  their  blood  and  dust, 
and  put  on  them  and  their  beds  clean  clothes ;   all 
which,  not  excepting  a  piece  of  soap  or  a  row  of  pins, 
were  furnished  by  the  model  department  of  the  Gulf, 
and  the  Sanitary  Commission,  sent  thence  eighty  miles 
over  a  slow  railroad,  but  in  time  to  do  all  I  have  inti 
mated.     And  I  must  say,  that  he  who  had  looked,  on 
the  morning  of  April  18,  at  the  interior  of  that  de 
serted  building  in  Berwick  City,  store  below  and  tene 
ments  above,  its  large  and  small  rooms,  dusty,  cob- 
webbed,   gloomy,    and  also   at  the   large  hall  of  an 
adjoining  building  in  the  same  condition,  making  in  all 
a  floor  area  of  about  1,500  yards,  had  seen  on  the  follow 
ing  morning  every  available  yard  of  this  space  covered 
with    wounded    men,    our   country's   braves,    suffering- 
anguish  such  as  a  wounded  soldier  only  knows,  with 
out  the  shadow  of  comfort ;  on  the  same  evening  again 
seen  all  these  sufferers  arranged  in  trim  rows,  on  iron 
bed-steads  and  good  mattresses,  clean  wounds,  clean 
bandages,  clean  lint,  dressings,  etc.,  clean  shirts,  clean 
drawers,  clean  sheets  and  pillow-cases,  clean  wards, 
with  towels,  and  bowls,  and  brushes,  and  rows  of  pins 


DEPARTMENT    OF   THE    GULF.  429 

in  their  places,  tables  supplied  with  vases  of  flowers, 
pitchers  of  ice  water,  tumblers,  bowls,  vials,  packages, 
all  in  their  places,  and  the  poor  sufferers  sleeping 
quietly  under  their  musquito  nets,  all  order,  all  clean 
liness,  all  beautiful.  Anybody,  I  say,  that  saw,  as  I 
saw,  all  this,  and  was  not  moved  with  deep  gratitude 
towards  the  institution  that  furnished  the  means  for 
all  this  magic  change,  is  a  character  for  a  cage  in  a 
menagerie." 

After  the  occupation  of  Alexandria,  General  Banks 
returned  with  his  Army  to  the  Mississippi,  and  being 
joined  at  Baton  Rouge  by  the  forces  under  giege  of  Port 
General  Grover,  commenced  the  siege  of  Hudson- 
Port  Hudson.  The  two  assaults  which  were  made 
with  the  assistance  of  the  fleet  on  that  formidable 
stronghold  were,  it  will  be  remembered,  unsuccessful, 
while  the  impetuous  courage  of  the  troops  engaged  in 
them  caused  many  casualties.  The  wounded  were 
taken  to  Hospitals  at  Baton  Rouge,  not  far  distant, 
where  the  officers  of  the  Commission  aided  the  Sur 
geons  in  their  care  of  them.  There  was  nothing  very 
striking  or  peculiar  about  their  work  there.  Their 
place  and  functions  on  such  occasions  were  now  well  un 
derstood  ;  they  had  a  duty  to  perform  so  well  marked, 
that  they  went  about  their  work  as  regularly  and  as 
systematically,  as  the  Medical  Officers  themselves. 

After  the  Mississippi  was  opened  by  the  surrender 
of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson,  there  followed  a  sea 
son  of  comparative  rest  for  such  of  the  "Soldiers' Home" 
troops  as  remained  in  the  Department  of  New  Orleans, 
the  Gulf.  The  Commission  took  the  opportunity  of 
establishing  at  New  Orleans  its  system  of  Special 


430  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

Relief  by  means  of  a  Home  or  Lodge,  where  soldiers 
discharged  from  the  service  on  account  of  disability 
could  receive  temporary  assistance,  previous  to  their  em 
barkation  for  their  homes.  Connected  with  the  Home, 
was  an  office  in  which  aid  was  given  in  preparing  the 
discharge  papers  of  soldiers,  thus  enabling  them  to  re 
ceive  the  pay  due  them  without  inconvenience  or  delay. 
A  great  practical  grievance  suffered  by  discharged 
soldiers  at  New  Orleans  at  that  time,  was  the  neglect 
improvements  of  the  authorities  to  provide  them  with  suit- 


in  the  transpor-  a^|e  accommodations  on  the  vessels  which 

tation  of  dis 

abled  men,  conveyed  them  to  the  North.  As  the  route 
home,  until  long  after  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg, 
was  sea-going,  on  steamers  which  had  decent  arrange 
ments  only  for  a  class  of  passengers  who  could  afford 
to  pay  for  them,  the  suffering  condition  of  the  dis 
charged  soldier  in  his  sick  and  disabled  state,  forced 
to  lie  down  among  cotton  bales,  and  without  suitable 
food  or  any  attendance,  may  be  readily  imagined. 
The  passage  on  the  boats  on  the  Mississippi  was  per 
haps  less  uncomfortable,  but  even  there,  the  require 
ments  of  humanity  were  often  unheeded.  It  was  de 
termined,  if  possible,  to  reform  this  condition  of  things. 
In  February,  1864,  the  authorities  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  officers  of  the  Commission,  at  their  request,  a 
steamer  to  be  properly  fitted  up  as  a  transport.  She 
was  at  once  equipped  on  a  plan  which  recognized  pri 
vate  soldiers,  even  if  discharged  and  non-effectives,  as 
living  human  beings,  whose  transportation  required  a 
different  arrangement  from  that  adopted  in  the  stowage 
of  barrels  of  flour  or  bales  of  cotton.  Each  man  had 
his  own  bed  ;  proper  ventilation  and  means  of  cleanli- 


DEPARTMENT    OF    THE    GULF.  431 

ness  were  provided,  suitable  arrangements  for  prepar 
ing  food  were  made,  and  last  of  all,  but  not  least  im 
portant,  an  Agent  of  the  Commission  whose  special 
business  it  was  to  look  after  and  care  for  those  who 
were  unable  to  help  themselves,  accompanied  the  boat  on 
each  trip  to  Cairo.  This  system  once  inaugurated,  was 
continued  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  Many 
transports  were  thus  employed,  the  Government  autho 
rities,  after  the  Commission  had  once  set  the  example, 
assuming  their  care  and  direction.  The  additional 
comfort  afforded  to  these  men,  who  deserved  everything 
of  their  country,  by  this  improved  method  of  transpor 
tation,  was  very  apparent.  The  part  taken  by  the  Offi 
cers  of  the  Commission,  in  this  great  work,  is  best  illus 
trated  by  the  fact  that  one  of  the  most  faithful  and 
efficient  of  all  of  them,  Mr.  EDGERLEY,  fell  a  victim 
to  disease  brought  on  by  his  over  exertion  and  zeal, 
while  ministering  to  the  wants  of  this  class  of  suf 
ferers. 

The  exchange  of  prisoners,  in  this  Department,  was 
also  a  business  in  which  the  Officers  of  the  Commission 
took  a  very  important  and  active  part.  Exchange  of  pri- 

mi  •         xi        ^  •      •  /-n         soner8'  Belief 

They  accompanied  the  Commissioner  of  xL-x-  afforded, 
change  to  the  place  of  rendezvous,  well  supplied  with 
articles,  which  were  sure  to  be  needed  by  those  who 
had  just  been  released  from  rebel  prisons.  At  Galves- 
ton,  for  instance,  a  large  number  were  received  in  a 
state  of  destitution  and  feebleness,  which  it  was  most 
painful  to  witness.  They  were  almost  literally  naked 
on  their  arrival  on  board  our  vessels,  and  the  officers 
of  the  Government  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to 
make  any  provision  for  their  clothing,  until  they 


432  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

reached  New  Orleans.  Here  the  Commission  stepped 
forward  at  once  to  fill  the  gap,  and  the  same  hour 
which  saw  these  men  restored  to  freedom,  found  each 
one  of  them  provided  with  a  blanket,  and  other  articles 
indispensable  to  his  comfort.  So  on  Red  River,  the 
Agents  of  the  Commission  were  ready  to  welcome  those 
suffering  men  who  had  passed  so  many  weary  months 
within  the  stockade  at  Tyler  in  Texas.  They  also 
were  in  a  pitiable  state  of  destitution,  but  in  the  midst 
of  it  all,  it  was  most  refreshing  to  observe  the  plucky 
endurance,  and  unquenchable  love  of  country,  which 
they  had  maintained  during  their  captivity.  The  fol 
lowing  incident,  related  by  one  of  the  Agents  who  was 
an  eye-witness  of  it,  will  show  that  these  noble  men 
claimed  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  those  who  loved  their 
country  on  other  grounds  besides  those  of  mere  hu 
manity  :  "  The  color-bearer  of  the  Forty-eighth  Ohio, 
many  of  whose  regiment  were  captured  at  Mansfield, 
had,  when  surrounded,  stripped  his  flag  from  the  staff, 
and  secreted  it  around  his  body.  When  in  the  stock 
ade  in  Texas,  it  being  rumored  among  the  rebels  that 
such  was  the  case,  a  diligent  search  was  made  for  it, 
but  our  men  had  shrewdly  buried  it.  After  resting 
some  time  in  rebel  soil  it  was  dug  up,  only  slightly 
soiled,  and  stitched  into  the  jacket  of  one  of  the  cap 
tains,  under  the  lining,  and  thus  it  passed  its  captivity. 
On  the  way  down  the  river  the  men  secretly  made  a 
flag-staff,  so  that  the  very  instant  they  stepped  on 
board  our  boat,  after  the  exchange,  they  drew  out  from 
its  long  hiding-place  their  good  old  flag,  spreading  it 
to  the  breeze.  The  effect  can  be  imagined  better  than 
described ;  shouts,  yells  of  defiance,  and  tears  of  joy 


DEPARTMENT   OF   THE    GULF.  433 

followed,  with  no  doubt  many  thanksgivings  to  God 
for  his  mercy  in  thus  sparing  them,  to  witness  this 
triumph." 

The  ill-fated  expedition  to  Red  River  gave  the  Com 
mission  another  opportunity  of  accomplishing  a  very 
important  relief  work  in  the  Army.  The  Eed  Eiyer  El. 
number  of  troops  was  so  large,  and  the  point  Pedition- 
which  the  Army  proposed  to  reach  (Shreveport)  was 
so  distant  from  the  base  of  supplies,  that  it  was 
deemed  .advisable  to  send  with  it  no  less  than  six 
Agents  who  were  provided  with  stores,  equalling  in 
capacity  that  of  three  hundred  barrels.  This  ill- 
managed  campaign  came  to  an  untimely  end,  and  in  two 
severe  engagements  beyond  Alexandria,  we  lost  more 
than  twenty-five  hundred  wounded.  No  such  result 
had  been  anticipated,  and,  of  course,  there  was  a  great 
deficiency  in  the  means  of  properly  caring  for  these  rnen. 
At  this  juncture,  as  on  so  many  similar  occasions,  the 
stores  of  the  Commission  although  far  less  in  amount 
than  could  have  been  dispensed  with  the  greatest 
benefit,  still  afforded  a  sensible  relief  to  the  sufferers. 
The  first  news  of  the  disastrous  result  of  the  expedi 
tion  reached  New  Orleans  by  a  transport  which  brought 
a  certain  number  of  the  wounded  to  that  city.  A  good 
deal  of  excitement  and  some  anxiety  prevailed,  but 
this  soon  gave  way  to  earnest  efforts  on  the  part 
of  the  Authorities,  who  wrere  well  aware  how  in 
adequately  the  Army  was  prepared  for  such  a  con 
tingency,  to  send  forward  with  the  least  possible  delay 
all  the  needed  means  of  succor.  The  Mayor  of  the 
City,  with  a  readiness  which  is  the  best  evidence  of  the 
recognition  of  the  nature  and  value  of  the  Commis- 


434  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

sion's  work  by  those  whose  position  best  enabled  them 
to  form  a  judgment,  at  once  applied  to  the  resident  In 
spector  for  assistance.  That  officer  was  told  that  a 
boat  would  be  dispatched  to  the  Army  within  an  hour, 
but  in  that  short  time,  he  was  able  to  ship  a  consider 
able  portion  of  the  goods  in  the  depot,  besides  a  certain 
amount  of  chloroform,  sponges,  lemons,  etc.,  which  had 
been  purchased  by  him  in  the  city.  On  the  next  day, 
another  large  invoice  of  supplies  was  forwarded,  and 
by  every  boat  which  left  New  Orleans  for  "the  front," 
during  the  next  ten  days,  a  ton  of  ice  was  sent  to  pro 
mote  the  comfort  of  the  wounded.  So  prompt  and 
invaluable  had  been  the  assistance  rendered  by  the 
Commission  on  this  occasion,  that  it  called  forth  uni 
versal  praise  and  gratitude,  a  sentiment  which  found 
expression  in  the  form  of  a  contribution  of  more  than 
two  thousand  dollars  to  its  treasury,  the  proceeds  of 
an  entertainment  given  at  one  of  the  theatres  of  New 
Orleans  for  that  special  purpose. 

During  the  autumn  of  1864  the  Army  was  sta 
tioned  in  detachments  at  certain  isolated  points  on 
supplies  of  vege-  the  Gulf  Coast.  The  great  defect  in  the 
gtrrisons^Vthe6  sanitary  administration  of  these  troops  was 
Gulf  coast,  the  neglect  to  supply  them  with  vegetables, 
either  fresh  or  preserved.  The  regiments  at  Brazos 
Santiago,  those  in  the  forts  in  the  front  of  Mobile, 
at  Pensacola,  at  the  Tortugas,  and  even  at  Key  West, 
all  suffered  very  severely  in  consequence  of  this 
neglect.  The  Commission  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
remedy  this  evil.  Cargo  after  cargo  of  vegetable  food 
was  despatched  by  Dr.  Newberry  from  Cairo  to  New 
Orleans,  and  placed  in  charge  of  Dr.  Blake,  the  Com- 


DEPARTMENT   OF   THE   GULF.  435 

mission's  Inspector.  By  him,  it  was  distributed  in 
such  quantities  to  the  forces  composing  the  garrisons, 
that  it  produced  in  a  very  short  time  the  most  favor 
able  change  in  their  general  health,  and  once  more  the 
ravages  of  that  inveterate  enemy  against  which  the 
Commission  maintained  so  constant  and  so  active  a 
warfare  ceased,  at  least,  for  the  time. 

From  the  slight  sketch  we  have  given  of  the  work 
of  the  Commission  in  the  Department  of  the  Gulf  it 
is  clear  that  it  was  admirably  administered,  character  of  the 
Its  principal  Agents  at  New  Orleans  were  AsentSi 
indeed  men  of  no  ordinary  stamp.  Dr.  Crane  who 
went  out  with  the  original  expedition,  and  Dr.  Gr.  A. 
Blake  who  remained  in  New  Orleans  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  so  conducted  its  operations  at  this  remote 
point,  as  to  afford  a  practical  illustration  of  the  value 
of  its  plans  and  policy  in  no  respect  inferior  to  that 
exhibited  on  any  other  portion  of  the  great  field  of 
war.  Their  labors  were  most  arduous,  and  the  em 
barrassments  they  met  with  sometimes  very  discour 
aging,  but  all  difficulties  were  overcome  by  a  wise 
and  prudent  conduct  on  their  part,  by  a  zeal  always 
active  but  never  indiscreet,  and  by  that  constant 
practical  manifestation  of  sympathy  with  the  wants 
of  the  suffering  which  brought  great  credit  to  them 
selves,  and  firmly  established  the  reputation  of  the 
Commission  with  the  Army  serving  in  this  distant 
region. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

SPECIAL  INSPECTION  OF  HOSPITALS. 

ALMOST  before  the  smoke  had  cleared  away  from  the 
great  battle-field  of  Antietam,  on  the  21st  of  Septem- 
Work  enlarged  ber,  1862,  a  telegram  from  San  Francisco 
rf  coSutions  announced  that  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
from  California.  lars,  the  first  instalment  of  California's 
golden  treasure  in  aid  of  the  work  of  the  Sanitary 
Commission,  was  on  its  way  to  New  York.  How  wel 
come  this  news  was  to  those,  who,  in  their  efforts  to 
relieve  the  mass  of  misery  crowded  into  the  preceding- 
month,  had  almost  exhausted  the  funds  in  their  trea 
sury,  and  were  looking  forward  with  the  deepest  anx 
iety  to  the  prospect  of  abandoning  the  great  work  be 
fore  them,  may  be  readily  imagined.  When  it  was 
found  that  this  large  gift  was  only  the  precursor  of 
still  larger  gifts,  and  that  by  its  opportune  arrival 
not  only  were  present  wants  supplied,  but  a  prospect  of 
extended  usefulness  in  new  fields  of  labor  was  unfolded 
before  them,  the  Officers  of  the  Commission  felt  that 
now  for  the  first  time,  it  would  be  possible  to  expand 
and  develope  their  plans  in  a  way  in  some  measure 
commensurate  with  their  theory  of  the  true  functions 
of  such  an  organization.  All  the  old  and  well-tried 
agencies  were  reorganized  upon  a  larger  and  more 
generous  footing,  and  plans  for  new  work  were  care 
fully  discussed  and  studied. 

436 


SPECIAL    INSPECTION   OF   HOSPITALS.  437 

At  that  time  the  most  salient  feature  in  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  Army  was  the  vast  and  rapidly  in 
creasing  population  of  the  Hospitals.  The  Condition  Cf  the 

•        •  .  ,,       T)       .         Hospitals  in 

campaigns  during  the  summer  on  the  Fenm-  sept,,  1862, 
sula  and  in  Northern  Virginia,  and  the  battle  of  An- 
tietam  had  filled  all  the  Hospitals  in  the  Eastern  De 
partment,  to  overflowing.  In  the  West,  although  no 
general  engagement  had  taken  place  during  the  sum 
mer,  the  insalubrity  of  the  country  in  which  the  Army 
was  operating,  and  the  excessive  fatigues  and  priva 
tions  to  which  the  troops  had  been  exposed  from  long- 
marches,  caused  the  number  of  sick  in  the  Hospitals  to 
be  unusually  large.  To  provide  accommodations  for 
so  many  patients,  and  to  furnish  them  with  suitable 
medical  attendance  and  care,  taxed  severely  all  the  re 
sources  of  the  Government,  and  required  the  utmost 
vigor  and  energy  on  the  part  of  the  Head  of  the 
Bureau.  At  that  time  there  were,  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  alone,  forty-one  General  Hospitals,  and  a 
hundred  and  forty-three  more  in  other  parts  of  the 
country,  while  the  number  of  sick  and  wounded  under 
treatment  in  these  Hospitals  was  not  less  than  sixty- 
five  thousand. 

The  popular  notion  as  to  what  constitutes  a  Military 
Hospital  is  a  very  vague,  and,  in  many  respects,  a 
very  incorrect  one.  A  certain  number  of  Defects  m  the 
beds,  a  certain  number  of  surgeons,  and  a  tXttimT*" 
sufficient  supply  of  food  and  medicines  to  provide  all 
who  may  become  sick  or  wounded  with  shelter,  attend 
ance  and  food,  do  not  constitute  by  any  means  all  that 
is  requisite  in  such  establishments.  In  all  countries 
some  such  arrangements  have  been  provided  for  the 


438  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

care  of  the  sick,  yet  Hospitals  supplied  with  all  these 
things  have  often  been  pest-houses,  where  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  patients  have  been  aggravated  rather  than 
relieved.  So  true  was  this  in  former  times,  and  so 
utterly  unsuited  have  such  places  been  proved  by  ex 
perience  for  the  objects  for  which  they  were  designed, 
owing  to  defects  apparently  inherent  in  the  system 
itself,  that  an  eminent  writer  on  Military  Hygiene,  who 
had  had  the  largest  experience  in  the  practical  man 
agement  of  such  establishments,  asserted  not  fifty 
years  ago,  that  "  Hospitals  were  among  the  chief  causes 
of  mortality  in  armies ;"  while  another  with  equal  op 
portunities  of  judging  declared  that  they  were  "  a  curse 
to  civilization."  Unsuitable  buildings,  in  unhealthy 
locations,  the  overcrowding  of  patients,  want  of  proper 
ventilation,  deficiency  in  drainage  and  water  supply, 
want  of  a  proper  diet,  the  neglect  or  absence  in  short 
of  all  those  essential  conditions  which  are  embraced 
under  the  general  term  of  hygiene,  these  were  some 
of  the  many  causes  which  counteracted  all  the  efforts 
of  the  Surgeons  to  treat  sick  men  successfully  who 
were  sheltered  from  the  weather,  each  of  whom  was 
provided  with  a  bed,  and  abundantly  supplied  with 
such  food  as  would  have  been  nutritious  to  those  in 
health.  Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  spite  of 
our  boasted  advance  in  civilization,  and  in  the  true 
principles  of  humane  care  for  the  suffering,  and  with 
our  increased  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  such 
establishments,  the  management  of  some  of  the  Army 
Hospitals  was  a  crying  evil.  After  inspecting  one  of 
them,  Dr.  Hammond,  at  that  time  acting  as  Medical 
Inspector  of  a  military  department,  did  not  hesitate  to 


SPECIAL    INSPECTION   OF    HOSPITALS.  439 

express  his  deliberate  conviction  "  that  such  a  condi 
tion  of  affairs  did  not  exist  in  any  other  Hospital  in 
the  civilized  world,"  and  that  the  Hospital  in  question 
was  "  altogether  worse  than  any  which  were  such  op- 
probria  to  the  Allies  in  the  Crimean  War."  This 
severe  judgment  was  passed,  it  must  be  remembered, 
not  upon  a  Hospital  improvised  upon  a  battle-field,  or 
situated  in  the  enemy's  country,  far  remote  from  the 
means  which  might  have  insured  its  proper  adminis 
tration,  but  upon  one  in  a  town  within  our  own  bor 
ders,  and  within  easy  reach  of  the  great  centres  of 
supply. 

This  unfortunate  condition  of  things  was  due  to  a 
cause  similar  to  that  which  had  produced  such  fright 
ful  confusion  in  almost  every  department  of  Efforts  of  the 

Surgeon- Gene- 

the  Army  in  the  early  days  of  the  war, — in  rai  to  remedy 

•XT  £  j.i        this  state   of 

one  word,  to  inexperience.  JNo  part  ot  the  tMng8i 
military  administration  requires  for  its  successful  prac 
tical  management,  a  more  thorough  special  instruction, 
and  greater  experience  than  the  complex  machinery  of 
a  vast  hospital  system.  In  this  country,  as  we  have 
said,  we  were  wholly  without  any  experience  in  such 
matters,  the  methods  which  had  prevailed  in  the  old 
Army  being  worse  than  useless,  because  they  misled  us 
in  the  vain  attempt  to  apply  them  to  wholly  new  cir 
cumstances.  There  were  few  men  in  the  country  who  had 
any  well-defined  conception  of  what  a  Model  Military 
Hospital  should  be,  but  one  of  these,  fortunately  for  the 
reputation  of  the  country,  and  for  the  cause  of  hu 
manity,  was  the  Surgeon-General.  From  the  begin 
ning,  the  great  object  of  his  ambition  had  been  to 
inaugurate  a  Model  Hospital  system  which  should  be 


440  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

creditable  to  the  age,  and  the  country.  He  persisted, 
in  the  face  of  most  serious  obstacles,  until  his  plans 
were  accomplished.  The  result,  which  he  had  confi- 
fidently  predicted  from  their  adoption,  was  fully  at 
tained,  and  among  other  great  things  worthy  of  the 
American  name,  which  were  done  during  the  war, 
there  is  none  of  which  we  have  greater  reason  to  be 
proud,  than  that  our  sick  and  wounded  were  better 
cared  for  in  every  respect,  in  Military  Hospitals,  than 
ever  before,  and  that  the  rate  of  mortality  in  them  was 
far  lower  than  had  been  observed  in  the  experience  of 
any  Army  since  the  world  began. 

As  the  views  and  intentions  of  the  Surgeon-General 
were  well  known,  as  indeed  they  had  been  one  of  the 
Aspeciaiinspec-  principal  grounds  of  confidence  on  the  part 

tion  of  Hospitals       «      •    t        . 

proposed,  ot  right  judging  men  in  his  peculiar  fitness 
for  the  position  he  occupied,  the  Sanitary  Commission 
felt  that  he  would  not  only  willingly  receive  any  sug 
gestions  which  would  assist  him  in  his  great  work,  but 
also,  that  he  would  gladly  cooperate  in  any  scheme 
having  for  its  object  a  thorough  and  systematic  in 
quiry  into  the  peculiarities  of  the  existing  system.  In 
this  belief,  it  was  not  mistaken.  Indeed,  it  may  be 
said  that  the  desirableness  of  a  supplemental  inspec 
tion  of  the  Hospitals  by  competent  medical  men  in 
civil  life,  came  from  the  Surgeon -General,  and  every 
means  which  his  official  position  and  authority  gave 
him  were  freely  used  to  insure  the  faithful  execution 
of  this  important  object.  Never  was  a  better  opportu 
nity  afforded  than  at  this  juncture  for  ascertaining 
how  far  the  wants  of  the  suffering  were  met  by  ar 
rangements  actually  existing,  and  in  what  respects 
those  arrangements  were  defective. 


SPECIAL    INSPECTION   OF   HOSPITALS.  441 

u  While  the  strength  of  the  Army  had  been  nearly 
doubled,  and  the  population  of  the  General  Hospitals 
more  than  quadrupled,  the  Staff  of  the  Medical  Inspec 
tion  had  not  been  at  all  augmented.  Under  these  cir 
cumstances  it  was  obvious  that  intelligent  assistance 
from  civil  life  would  be  acceptable.  This  aid  the  Com 
mission  resolved  to  seek  amongst  the  best  and  ablest 
members  of  the  medical  profession,  soliciting,  for  short 
periods,  the  services  of  men  unable  to  leave  their  re 
sponsible  duties  for  any  length  of  time,  and  yet  ready 
to  help  the  national  cause,  and  that  of  humanity.  This 
duty  was  assigned  to  the  Medical  Committee,  who  com 
menced  immediately  the  organization  of  a  scheme  for 
the  special  inspection  of  Military  Hospitals.*  Invita 
tions  were  issued  to  more  than  a  hundred  medical 
gentlemen  of  assured  position,  throughout  the  loyal 
States,  and  the  services  of  Dr.  Henry  G.  Clark,  of 
Boston,  were  secured  as  Inspector-in-Chief." 

Of  this  number,  sixty  entered  upon  this  service  at 
the  request  of  the  Commission,  in  the  month  of  Octo 
ber,  1862,  and  during  the  next  succeeding  Corps  of  Special 
six  months  were  busily  engaged  in  the  spe-  gSea!*8 
cial  inspection  of  the  Military  Hospitals  in  every  part 
of  the  country.  These  gentlemen  were  assured  at  the 
outset,  that  their  visits  were  made  at  the  invitation  of  the 
proper  authorities,  and  by  the  express  desire  of  the  Sur 
geon-General.  They  were  further  told  that  the  general 
design  of  this  movement  was  to  secure  a  high  standard 
of  professional  ability  in  the  management  of  the  Mili- 

*  The  Medical  Committee  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  composed  of  Dr.  William  H.  Van 
Buren,  Dr.  C.  R.  Agnew,  and  Dr.  Wolcott  Gibbs.    The  scheme  for  this  Special  Inspection  of  Hospi 
tals  originated  in  this  Committee,  and  its  details  were  carefully  studied  and  organized  by  its  differ 
ent  members.    Dr.  Clark  acted  under  instructions  from  this  Committee,  and  reported  to  it. 
56 


442  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY   COMMISSION. 

tary  Hospitals,  and  to  detect  and  remove  such  defects 
in  their  administration  or  care,  as  were  susceptible  of. 
remedy  or  improvement.  As  it  was  not  possible  that 
men  engrossed  with  the  cares  of  a  large  private  prac 
tice  could  absent  themselves  for  a  long  time  from  their 
homes,  it  was  proposed  that  each  Surgeon  accepting 
the  invitation  of  the  Commission,  should  devote  but 
one  month  to  the  work  of  actual  inspection.  They 
were  assigned  by  the  Inspector-in-Chief  to  groups  of 
Hospitals  located  in  a  particular  region,  care  being 
taken,  as  far  as  possible,  for  obvious  reasons,  to  confide 
this  duty  to  those  whose  usual  residence  was  remote 
from  the  points  to  be  visited.* 

Their  instructions  contemplated  the  investigation 
of  a  very  wide  field.  The  location,  construction  and 
Theirinstmc-  general  police  of  the  Hospitals,  the  number 
tions,  anc[  character  of  the  attendants,  Surgeons 

and  nurses,  the  number  of  the  patients,  the  nature  and 
gravity  of  the  diseases  from  which  they  were  suffering, 
the  rate  of  mortality,  the  all-important  question  of  diet 
with  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Hospital  to  pro 
vide  food  of  a  suitable  character ;  drainage,  water  sup 
ply,  and  ventilation ;  these  were  some  of  the  general 
subjects  which  were  to  engage  their  minute  attention 
and  inquiry.  They  were  expected  to  make  a  thorough 
and  painstaking  investigation  into  all  these  matters, 
and  in  order  to  stimulate  them  to  efforts  to  render 
their  reports  full  and  accurate,  they  were  informed 
that  the  results  of  their  inquiries  would  be  communi 
cated  confidentially  to  the  Surgeon-General,  who  would 
base  his  official  action  upon  them. 

*  See  Appendix  No.  7  for  the  names  and  residences  of  the  Inspectors. 


SPECIAL    INSPECTION   OF   HOSPITALS.  443 

The  inspections  were  commenced  in  the  Hospitals 
at  Washington  and  its  vicinity,  and  were  gradually 
extended  to  those  in  other  parts  of  the  coun-  Theyenterupon 
try,  until  all  the  General  Hospitals  in  the  thework- 
Army,  from  farthest  New  England  to  the  Department 
of  the  Gulf  had  been  visited  and  reported  upon.  By 
the  month  of  May,  1863,  reports  had  been  made  by 
these  Special  Inspectors,  which  covered  more  than 
twenty-five  hundred  folio  pages,  and  subsequently 
many  additional  reports  wrere  received.  They  con 
tained  a  full,  accurate  and  intelligent  description  of 
all  the  General  Hospitals  in  the  Army,  and  were  filled 
with  the  evidence  of  that  acute  observation,  sound 
opinion,  and  practical  suggestion,  which  was  to  have 
been  expected  from  the  eminent  reputation,  in  their 
profession,  of  those  who  composed  the  corps.  These 
reports  are  taken  up  chiefly  with  detailed  accounts  of 
the  Hospital  administration,  regarded  from  a  purely 
professional  and  scientific  stand-point,  and  although 
the  views  they  present  are  of  the  highest  interest  and 
value,  their  discussion  will  find  a  more  appropriate 
place  in  the  medical  history  of  the  war,  now  in  pre 
paration  by  the  Commission,  than  in  the  present  volume. 
Still,  the  plan  in  itself  was  so  wise  and  comprehensive, 
and  its  execution  formed  so  important  a  feature  in  the 
general  wrork  of  the  Commission,  that  some  outline  of 
it  seems  necessary  in  order  that  some  idea  of  the  com 
prehensiveness  of  that  work  may  be  formed.  It  cannot 
be  doubted  that  the  information  contained  in  these  re 
ports,  coming  as  it  did  from  trustworthy  and  indepen 
dent  observers,  did  much  to  build  up  our  grand  sys 
tem  of  hospital  construction  and  administration. 


444          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  Hospitals  were  found,  in  general,  by  these  In 
spectors  in  a  far  more  satisfactory  condition  than  had 
General  results,  been  anticipated.  The  prominent  and  ob- 

.Hospital   Duild-       . 

ings,  vious  defect  existing  everywhere,  but  espe 

cially  observable  in  the  West,  was  the  want  of  suitable 
buildings.  At  that  time  large  and  properly  arranged 
buildings  on  the  Pavilion  system,  as  it  was  called, 
furnished  with  all  the  appliances  for  the  proper  treat 
ment  of  the  patients,  in  accordance  with  the  latest  and 
best  teachings  of  experience,  were  not  yet  completed, 
although  several  were  in  the  process  of  construction. 
The  testimony  of  all  the  Inspectors  was  uniform  in 
regard  to  the  necessity  of  establishing  Hospitals  only  in 
buildings  specially  erected  for  such  a  purpose.  In 
their  investigations  throughout  the  country,  they  had 
found  every  species  of  building  from  common  dwell 
ing-houses,  to  hotels  and  churches  occupied  as  Hospi 
tals,  and  they  never  failed  in  their  Reports  to  point 
out  the  inherent  unfitness  of  all  of  them  for  the  pur 
poses  for  which  they  were  used.  They  found,  at  the 
West  particularly,  that  the  Medical  Officers  complained 
bitterly,  that  while  money  was  profusely  spent  in  other 
parts  of  the  country  in  supplying  this  acknowledged 
want,  no  steps  had  yet  been  taken  to  provide  proper 
accommodation  for  the  sick  and  wounded  of  the  Ar 
mies  of  the  Cumberland  and  the  Tennessee. 

The  great  object  of  this  special  Inspection  was,  as  we 
have  said,  to  obtain  such  information  with  regard  to 
character  of  the  the  practical  management  of  the  Hospitals 

Medical  Umcers 

in  charge,  as  might  suggest  to  the  Surgeon-General 
improvements  in  the  system.  The  first  result,  how 
ever,  was  to  increase  the  comfort  of  the  patients  who 


SPECIAL   INSPECTION   OF   HOSPITALS.  445 

were  then  under  treatment.  This  was  effected,  partly 
by  the  intercourse  of  the  surgeons  in  charge  with 
eminent  members  of  their  own  profession,  whose 
counsel  was  naturally  regarded  by  those  who  were  in 
earnest  in  their  attempt  to  perform  their  novel  and  re 
sponsible  duties,  as  of  very  great  value.  The  Inspec 
tors  had  been  cordially  welcomed  in  almost  every 
Hospital  they  visited,  by  the  officers  in  charge.  Every 
facility  was  afforded  them  for  making  a  thorough  in 
vestigation  of  their  condition,  and  they  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  point  out  on  the  spot  deficiencies  in  the  service 
which  met  their  observation.  They  found  the  Surgeons, 
as  a  class,  faithful,  earnest  and  skillful  men,  striving, 
frequently  in  the  face  of  most  serious  obstacles,  to  do 
their  utmost  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  suffering  men 
under  their  charge.  Many  of  these  Surgeons  had  left 
their  practice  in  civil  life,  at  a  great  personal  sacrifice, 
and  had  entered  the  Army,  from  purely  patriotic 
motives.  Few  of  them,  it  is  true,  had  had  any  ex 
perience  in  the  peculiar  labors  of  Hospital  practice, 
but  it  was  surprising  on  the  whole,  how  wonderfully 
nearly  all  of  them  had  adapted  themselves  to  the 
exigencies  of  their  new  position.  There  was  found 
among  them  material  for  a  most  efficient  corps  of 
Hospital  Surgeons,  and  all  that  was  needed,  as  they 
themselves  were  the  first  to  recognize,  for  establishing 
a  satisfactory  Hospital  system,  was  some  slight  modi 
fication  in  the  organization  of  the  Medical  Staff,  and 
above  all,  suitable  Hospital  buildings  and  appliances 
for  the  relief  of  the  patients.  The  suggestions  con 
tained  in  the  reports  of  these  Inspectors,  says  Dr. 
Clark,  the  Inspector-in-chief,  "  with  regard  to  defects 


446  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

and  evils  found  to  be  existing  in  any  of  the  Hospitals, 
have,  when  transmitted  by  me,  as  they  are  frequently, 
by  extracts,  synopses,  or  verbally,  to  the  Surgeon-Gene 
ral,  invariably  received  his  immediate  and  effective 
attention. 

"An  inspection  of  the  reports  of  the  different  Inspec 
tors,  at  different  and  consecutive  dates,  will  also  show,  in 
many  instances,  a  very  marked  and  progressive  im 
provement  in  the  condition  of  the  Hospitals  inspected." 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  work  of  the  Com 
mission  in  this  particular  department  constituted  the 
This  inspection  only  systematic  inspection  which  the  Hospi- 
oniy1!61  tals  received.  On  the  contrary,  the  eight 
Medical  Inspectors  attached  to  the  Bureau  were  con 
stantly  employed  in  making  official  visits.  But  when 
it  is  remembered  that  in  addition  to  the  two  hundred 
General  Hospitals  of  the  Army,  these  officers  were 
charged  with  the  supervision  and  the  Medical  and 
Sanitary  care  of  more  than  eight  hundred  thousand 
men  in  active  service,  it  will  be  readily  perceived  that 
the  force  was  altogether  too  small  to  explore  properly 
so  wide  a  field.  There  were  other  reasons  to  which  we 
have  already  alluded,  for  invoking  the  assistance  in 
this  work  of  the  profession  outside  the  Army,  and  an 
additional  one  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that,  it  was 
important  in  forming  a  judgment  on  disputed  points 
to  compare  the  opinions  of  those  trained  in  the  habits 
of  civil  life,  with  those  who  were  naturally  more 
affected  in  their  views  by  purely  military  considera 
tions. 

Among  the  improvements  suggested  by  these  reports 
and  afterwards  adopted  were  some  of  such  great  prac- 


SPECIAL    INSPECTION   OF    HOSPITALS.  447 

tical  importance  that  some  mention  must  be  various  im- 
made  of  them  here.  In  the  first  place,  ^J 
large  depots  of  Hospital  supplies  were  es-  of  supplies, 
tablished  by  the  Authorities  at  great  military  centres 
where  they  were  readily  accessible  at  all  times  when 
needed.  The  former  practice  had  been  one  utterly 
unfitting  the  character  of  the  service,  and  had  caused, 
in  many  ways,  great  inconvenience.  When  supplies 
were  needed  at  any  point,  it  had  been  usual  for  the 
proper  officer  to  make  a  requisition  upon  the  distant 
Purveyor  who,  after  approving  it,  sent  it  to  be  filled 
by  the  still  more  distant  Apothecary.  The  patients, 
meantime,  were  obliged  to  suffer  from  the  delays 
caused  by  the  state  of  the  market,  or  the  difficulties  of 
transportation.  The  practical  advantages  of  this  change 
of  system  were  felt  immediately,  and  they  were  further 
increased  soon  afterwards,  by  the  establish-  Government 
ment  of  two  large  Government  laboratories,  Laboratorie8- 
one  at  New  York,  the  other  at  Philadelphia,  in  which 
during  the  remainder  of  the  war  the  principal  medi 
cines  required  in  the  Hospitals  were  prepared.  The 
Medical  Bureau  was  thus  rendered  wholly  independent 
of  mercantile  houses,  both  as  to  the  quality  of  the 
articles  it  dispensed,  and  the  regularity  of  their  supply. 
These  laboratories  were  placed  in  charge  of  competent 
officers  detailed  from  the  Medical  Staff  of  the  Army, 
and  were  managed  with  great  skill  and  fidelity.  They 
saved  also  to  the  Government,  the  outlay  of  large  sums 
of  money,  which  would  have  been  required  for  the 
purchase  of  the  articles  manufactured  in  them  at  a  far 
lower  cost  than  the  ordinary  market  price. 

A  new  and  vastly  enlarged  supply-table  or  list  of 


448          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

articles  which  the  Government  would  undertake  to 
New  supply-  Provide  for  the  inmates  of  the  Hospitals  was 
teblei  also  issued  by  order  of  the  Surgeon-Gene 

ral,  embracing  many  things  essential  to  their  comfort, 
for  the  supply  of  which  the  Hospital  Fund  had  been, 
hitherto  the  only,  and  most  precarious  resource.  Hos 
pital  clothing,  also,  was  furnished  to  the  patients 
under  the  new  regime,  a  provision  which,  when  their 
Hospital  cloth-  condition  in  respect  to  personal  cleanliness 
bg<  upon  their  entrance  to  the  Hospital  is  con 

sidered,  seems  an  indispensable  pre-requisite  to  their 
proper  treatment.  But  the  measures  of  reform,  intro 
duced  by  the  Surgeon- General,  did  not  cease  with  his 
efforts  to  provide  for  the  material  comfort  of  the 
patients.  The  condition  of  the  Medical  Staff  excited 
his  most  serious  attention,  and  his  struggles  to  main 
tain  a  high  standard  of  professional  excellence  in  it, 
were  never  relaxed  for  a  moment.  To  effect  this  im 
portant  object,  he  devised  most  generous  and  liberal 
plans,  some  of  which  were  adopted,  and  others  failed 
from  a  want  of  cooperation  by  the  War  Department. 
They  were  all  characterized  by  that  comprehen 
siveness  of  view,  which  proved  his  thorough  apprecia 
tion  of  the  duties  of  his  great  office.  As  a  means  of 
securing  the  most  competent  men  for  the  Medical 
service  of  the  Army,  he  reorganized  the  Boards  of 
Boards  of  EX-  Examination,  and  insisted  upon  a  higher 
animation.  standard  of  attainment  on  the  part  of  the 
candidate.  He  established  also  a  new  and  complete 
system  of  Hospital  reports,  which  was  designed  to 
Hospital  Ee-  embody  not  merely  a  formal  and  barren 
PortB<  statement  of  the  number  of  patients  in  the 


SPECIAL    INSPECTION   OF    HOSPITALS.  449 

Hospitals,  and  of  those  who  were  discharged  or  died, 
but  also  such  facts  concerning  their  condition  as  would 
constitute  valuable  material  for  a  Medical  and  Surgical 
history  of  the  war.  The  interest  and  importance  of 
such  a  history,  not  merely  as  a  record  of  what  had 
been  done  here,  but  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  general  laws  which  govern  the  health 
and  efficiency  of  Armies,  are  too  obvious  to  need  com 
ment.  In  order  further  to  accomplish  this  object,  he 
instituted  at  Washington  an  Army  Medical  Museum, 
in  which  was  collected  and  arranged  a  vast  Army  Medicai 
number  of  specimens  from  the  different  Museum- 
Hospitals,  illustrating  the  nature  of  the  peculiar  dis 
eases  to  which  soldiers  are  liable,  and  the  character  of 
the  wounds  which  are  inflicted  by  the  new  missiles  of 
war.  The  peculiarity  of  these  wounds  has  essentially 
modified  one  of  the  most  important  departments  of 
Military  Surgery,  and  the  specimens  thus  brought  to 
gether  in  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  far  exceeding  in 
number  and  variety  those  of  any  other  collection  in 
the  world,  have  served,  not  only  to  advance  the  cause 
of  science  and  humanity,  but  have  rendered  the 
Museum  a  just  object  of  national  pride.  But  the 
great  central  want  of  the  system,  which  left  unsup- 
plied,  all  the  other  improvements  suggested  Hospital  Bdia- 
by  the  Surgeon -General  would  have  proved  in&Si 
of  little  value,  was  the  want  of  proper  Hospital  build 
ings.  Fortunately  for  the  completion  of  the  circle  of 
his  plans,  the  necessary  cooperation  of  those  officers 
of  the  Government  outside  of  the  Medical  Department 
who  were  charged  with  the  erection  of  Hospitals  was, 
at  last,  obtained,  and  a  large  number  were  constructed 

57 


450  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

on  a  vast  scale  in  different  parts  of  the  country  ac 
cording  to  the  Pavilion  system.  The  peculiar  advan 
tages  of  this  system,  and  the  wonderful  results  which 
followed  its  adoption  in  the  improvement  of  the  sick 
and  wounded  of  the  Army  is  a  subject  belonging  pro 
perly  to  the  Medical  history  of  the  war.  The  best 
evidence  we  can  give  of  the  success  of  the  experiment, 
is  to  repeat  the  statement  of  the  simple  fact,  that  the 
rate  of  mortality  among  the  inmates  of  these  Hospitals 
was  far  lower  than  has  been  recorded  of  the  military 
Hospitals  of  any  age  or  country. 

The  Sanitary  Commission,  without  desiring  to  share 
the  credit  of  any  of  the  vast  improvements  made  by 
The  Commission  the  Surgeon-General,  does  claim  not  only  to 
aids  and  encour-  ^^  f^  sympathized  with  him  in  his  en- 

ages  these  im-  •/•••/* 

larged  and  liberal  views,  but  also  to  have 


aided  him  in  carrying  them  out  as  far  as  any  extra 
official  cooperation  could  do.  It  seems,  now,  surpris 
ing  that  any  obstacles  should  have  been  placed  in  the 
way  of  reforms  obviously  so  much  needed.  But  the 
truth  is,  that,  from  various  causes,  it  required  the  per 
sistent  vigor  and  energy  of  a  most  determined  man  to 
advance  a  single  step  in  the  right  direction,  and  the 
Surgeon  -General  always  needed  for  his  encouragement 
all  the  support  he  could  get,  in  the  Government,  or  out 
of  it.  The  Commission  felt  that  the  best  practical 
method  of  maintaining  the  health  and  efficiency  of 
the  Army  was  to  secure  the  proper  administration  of 
the  Military  Hospitals,  and  it  was  only  fulfilling  the 
highest  object  of  its  mission  by  zealously  cooperating 
in  any  plans  which  sought  to  accomplish  this  great 
object. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  COMMISSION'S  BUEEAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS. 

IT  will  have  become  evident  to  the  reader  that 
the  fundamental  principle  which  governed  all  the 
operations  of  the  Commission  was  to  make  Vaiue  of  Gene- 
its  influence  felt,  as  far  as  possible,  through  rallaws- 
the  agency  of  general  principles  and  a  general  policy. 
Its  action  was  controlled  by  a  constant  regard 
to  those  hygienic  and  physiological  laws  which  are 
already  known,  and  by  an  anxious  desire  to  discover 
and  apply  such  other  laws  as  might  affect  the  welfare 
and  success  of  our  soldiers  in  this  or  in  other  wars. 
The  vast  proportions  of  our  national  Armies,  which 
doubtless  reached  during  the  rebellion  the  enormous 
aggregate  of  two  and  a-half  millions  of  men,  afforded 
facilities  not  likely  to  occur  again,  at  least  during  the 
present  generation  ;  and  it  would  have  been  most  un 
fortunate  had  the  opportunities  thus  afforded  for  the 
study  of  large  numboi  of  men  in  their  hygienic  and 
physiological  relations,  been  suffered  to  pass  unim 
proved. 

The  employment  of  statistical  methods  of  research 
is,  in  general,  of  comparatively  recent  date.  Their 
peculiar  advantages  and  restrictions  have  Early  efforts 

c  m  of  the  Commis- 

been   only   lately  appreciated ;   and  it  will  sion  to  acquire 
be  easily  perceived  that  they  must  be  used  ^*c& 

451 


452  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

with  great  discretion,  and  with  special  limitations. 
But  the  exceeding  importance  of  their  results  wrhen 
properly  interpreted,  is  continually  impressing  itself 
more  and  more  upon  students  of  both  the  moral  and 
the  physical  sciences  ;  and  the  opportunities  which 
were  presented  during  the  war  for  the  determination 
of  important  facts  relative  to  the  moral  and  physical 
characteristics  and  capacities  of  our  soldiers,  and  of 
men  in  general,  seemed  to  call  upon  the  Commission 
to  obtain  such  facts  as  seemed  important  to  the  wel 
fare,  not  merely  of  our  own  country,  but  of  the  world. 
The  earliest  statistical  inquiries  of  the  Commission 
were  directed  toward  forming  the  best  attainable  esti 
mate  of  the  condition,  prospects  and  needs  of  the  forces 
to  be  maintained  in  the  field  during  the  summer  of 
1861.  It  hoped  thus  to  advise  more  effectively 
with  the  State  authorities,  and  the  general  Govern 
ment,  as  to  modifications  of  the  regulations,  and 
such  other  measures  as  might  tend  to  guard  the  troops 
against  pestilence,  and  to  mitigate  the  anticipated  suf 
fering  from  illness  and  wounds.  For  this  purpose 
two  series  of  inquiries  were  prepared  by  Mr.  Olmsted ; 
the  one,  relative  to  the  organization  and  equipment  of 
regiments,  being  sent  to  the  Governors  of  States ;  and 
the  other,  pertaining  to  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
regiments  and  their  camps,  being  addressed  to  the 
Commanding  officers  of  regiments. 

Many  of  the  laws  of  the  physical  as  of  the  moral 
world  are  deducible  only  from  experience,  and  the 
The  nature  and  common  judgment  of  mankind  recognizes 

value  of  statis-      .  .  ,  ,       ,  ,          ,  .   , 

tics>  that  experience  as  the  most  valuable  which 

results  from  observation  of  the  largest  number  of  facts, 


COMMISSION'S  BUKEAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS.    453 

the  only  restriction  being  in  the  exercise  of  a  proper 
discrimination.  Now  when  a  very  large  number  of 
facts  bearing  on  any  subject,  are  collected  and  systema 
tically  classified  according  to  their  proper  relations, 
the  classified  results  are  called  "  Statistics,"  and  infer 
ences  legitimately  deduced  from  them  occupy  the  same 
relation  to  those  afforded  by  personal  experience  and 
judgment,  that  the  number  of  cases  collected  and  the 
systematic  correctness  of  their  classification  bear  to  the 
number  remembered  by  the  individual,  and  the  dis 
crimination  with  which  he  forms  his  opinion.  In 
short,  the  experience  of  thousands  or  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  men  may  be  substituted  for  that  of  one  man, 
and  the  accuracy  of  numerical  computation  may  thus 
supply  the  place  of  the  rude  estimate  of  personal 
opinion.  Even  here  large  opportunities  for  error  ex 
ist  in  the  unskillful  combination  of  incongruous  mate 
rial  ;  but  as  the  fundamental  facts  are  on  record,  such 
errors  are  always  capable  of  subsequent  detection  and 
remedy. 

From  the  classification  and  comparison  of  the  an 
swers  to  the  inquiries  propounded  by  Mr.  Olm- 
sted  he  anticipated  useful  information.  In-  statistics  con- 
deed  they  had  begun  to  yield  results  of  * 


very  considerable  importance,  when  the  encounter  at 
Bull's  Run  solved  the  problems,  exhibited  the  facts  and 
enforced  the  conclusions,  with  a  thoroughness  to  which 
a  less  disastrous  experience,  or  years  of  sanitary  in 
spection  would  have  been  inadequate. 

Just  at  this  memorable  crisis  the  Commission  was 
preparing  enlarged  and  detailed  series  of  questions 
concerning  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  regiments 


454  UNITED   STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

in  camp,  near  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of  placing 
them  in  the  hands  of  medical  men  especially  appointed 
as  Sanitary  Inspectors ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  Mr.  E. 
B.  Elliott,  known  as  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  well- 
informed  statisticians  of  the  country,  came  to  Wash 
ington  to  obtain  accurate  statistical  information  regard 
ing  -the  character,  number  and  health  of  our  troops — 
subjects  regarding  which  the  whole  nation  felt  so  deep 
an  interest,  yet  possessed  so  little  knowledge.  Mr. 
Elliott's  services  promised  to  be  peculiarly  valuable  at 
that  juncture,  and  when  our  Army  arrived  panic- 
stricken  and  disorganized  at  Washington,  a  most  im 
portant  field  for  his  labors  presented  itself.  ]\To  time 
was  lost  in  instituting  such  researches  as  should  best 
make  manifest  the  causes  which  led  to  the  calami 
tous  result.  The  nature  of  these  inquiries,  and  the  value 
of  the  information  derived  from  the  answers  to  them, 
have  been  already  referred  to.* 

The  able  report  made  to  the  Secretary  of  War  by 
the  General  Secretary  of  the  Commission,  in  Decem- 
statisticai  BU-  ^er?  1861,  and  published  as  Document, 
reau  organized,  j^o>  4Q?  contains  in  the  appendix  some  of 
the  results  of  these  inquiries.  The  system  of  sani 
tary  inspection  of  regimental  camps  was  at  once  ex 
tended,  and  was  actively  prosecuted.  The  Statistical 
Bureau  was  organized  as  a  special  Department  of  the 
Commission,  and  the  returns  of  Camp  Inspection  were 
at  once  transmitted  thither  for  tabulation  and  classi 
fication.  Digests  of  more  than  four  hundred  of  these 
reports  were  given  in  the  report  to  the  Secretary  of 
War,  just  cited,  showing  the  time  of  recruiting  the 

*  See  Ante,  page  89. 


COMMISSION'S  BUREAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS.    455 

regiments,  the  nativities  and  ages  of  the  men,  the  tho 
roughness  of  their  inspection  at  enlistment,  the  situa 
tion  and   hygienic  characteristics  of   the  camps,  the 
drainage,  tents,  clothing,  cleanliness,  food,  hospitals, 
discipline,  remittances  of  pay,  competency  of  medical 
officers,   systematic   recreations,  etc.     Of  these  Camp 
inspections   one  thousand   four  hundred   and  eighty- 
two  were  received,   representing   in    all   about   eight 
hundred  and  seventy  regiments  or  other  organizations. 
Immediately  upon  their  reception  they  were  sub 
jected  to  a  preliminary  tabulation  for  office  reference, 
and  were  so  arranged  as  to  enable  the  Commission  to 
give  such  information  as  might  be  deemed  proper,  re 
garding  the  position  and  military  condition  of  each 
regiment.     They  were  then  again  classified  in  a  con 
densed  form  by  groups  of  regiments,  in  such  manner 
as  to  exhibit  at  a  glance  the  information  needed  for 
the  purpose  of  the  Commission  in  ameliorating  the 
sanitary  condition  of  the  regiments  or  camps,  and  in 
correcting  abuses.      Thirdly,  they  were  classified  by 
States,  and  months,  and  summaries  and  aggregates  of 
the  results  were  prepared  by  months,  seasons,  States, 
and  groups  of  States.     The  value  of  the  materials  thus 
collected  and  assorted  is  very  great,  and  although  their 
nature  is  such  as  to  render  it  difficult  to  present  con 
densed  summaries  of  results  in  tabular  form,  this  has 
still  been  done  as  far  as  possible,  and  the  aggregated 
results  afford  sources  from  which  copious  information 
may  be  derived  on  many  special  points  of  hygienic  im 
portance.     It  is  intended  by  the  Commission  that  these 
materials,  like  the  others  of  similar  nature,  shall  be 
deposited  for  permanent  preservation  with  some  pub- 


456  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

lie  institution,  where  those  engaged  in  the  investiga 
tion  of  any  of  the  questions  involved  may  find  easy 
access  to  the  information  they  require,  in  its  most  con 
densed  and  available  form. 

Some  statement  of  the  influence  of  these  Inspec 
tions,  and  the  action  which  was  taken  upon  the  reports 
indirect  influ-  without  delay  by  the  Commission,  may  not 
rtllar^plrt  be  without  interest.  Their  indirect  influ- 
of  the  war,  6nce  was  of  the  greatest  value.  The  very 
asking  of  the  questions,  and  the  sight  of  the  printed 
blanks  are  known  in  a  multitude  of  cases  to  have  suo-- 

o 

gested  to  Surgeons  and  Commanding  officers,  for  the 
first  time,  those  precautions   and   sanitary  measures, 
which  the  lack  of  previous  experience  had  prevented 
them  from  taking.     It  will  readily  be  perceived  how 
strong  a  stimulus  to  the  enforcement  of  official  regula 
tions — many  of  which  were  at  first  regarded  as  a  dead 
letter,  or  as  matters  of  simple  form, — was  given  by 
the  knowledge  that  a  corps  of  medical  civilians  were 
actively  at  work,  examining  into  the  strictness  with 
which  these  regulations  were  enforced,  and  the  general 
sanitary  condition  of  the  regiments   and  the  camps. 
But  in  addition  to  this  weighty  incentive  thus  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  officers  concerned,  the  Commission  took 
immediate  steps  to  bring  about  a  remedy  through  offi 
cial  channels   in  cases  of  manifest   need;  and    here 
again  the  salutary  influence  of  the  reform  of  a  single 
camp,  especially  when   thus  brought  about,  was  felt 
more  or  less  manifestly  upon  the  other  camps  in  the 
vicinity. 

During  the  summer  of  1862,  the  materials  on  file 
in  the  offices  of  the  Surgeon-General  and  Adjutant- 


COMMISSION'S  BUKEAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS.    457 

General,  were  also  drawn  upon  for  informa-  Tabulation  of 
tion  not  otherwise  accessible,  and  which  the  ^Sl* 
officers  of  these  departments  had  no  oppor-  pitais, 
tunity  to  elaborate.  The  consolidated  morning  reports 
of  the  Hospitals  in  the  different  Departments,  giving 
for  each  day,  and  each  Hospital,  the  number  of  cases 
treated,  the  proportion  of  cures,  and  of  deaths,  were 
transcribed  from  the  official  documents  ;  and  were  com 
bined  and  aggregated  according  to  regions,  and  accord 
ing  to  seasons.  A  large  amount  of  the  material  for 
this  work  was  provided  by  the  Hospital  Directory 
Department,  until  at  the  close  of  1864  the  present 
Surgeon-General  forbade  the  communication  of  farther 
material  to  the  Commission.  The  tabulated  results 
had  however  already  yielded  highly  valuable  informa 
tion  ;  and  the  assumption  by  the  War  Department  of 
the  responsibility  of  classifying  and  tabulating  these 
important  facts  was  the  source  of  much  satisfaction  to 
the  Commission,  which  welcomed  the  probable  attain 
ment  of  the  desired  end.  It  was  satisfied  with  the 
consciousness  that  its  efforts  had  in  all  probability  led 
to  the  performance  of  the  work,  although  in  this  in 
direct  manner.  In  this  connection,  it  may  be  added 
that  not  only  was  the  system  of  Daily  Hospital  Re 
turns  adopted  by  the  War  Department  first  sug 
gested  by  the  Sanitary  Commission,  but  that  it 
prepared  even  the  blank  forms  of  these  reports, 
which  (with  the  slight  change  of  horizontal  for 
vertical  lines)  are  still  employed.  The  files  of  the 
Statistical  Bureau  contained  abstracts  and  summaries 
of  the  returns  for  both  the  General  Hospitals,  and  the 
Hospitals  for  Contagious  Fevers,  arranged  by  months 

58 


458  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

and  by  departments,  for  nearly  all  the  U.  S.  Military 
Hospitals  during  the  greater  part  of  the  years  1863 
and  1864.  Upon  the  assumption  of  the  work  by  the 
War  Department,  and  the  refusal  of  farther  informa 
tion  to  the  Commission,  the  work  of  the  Statistical 
Bureau  upon  these  aggregates  and  averages  was  sus 
pended. 

The  monthly  regimental  reports  on  file  in  the 
Adjutant-General's  office,  afford  a  means  for  deducing 
Tabulation  of  the  sickness  and  mortality  of  the  whole 

loss  and  gain  re-  . 

turns,  Army,  or  ot  any  portion  ot  it,  at  any  time. 

These  reports  are  usually  made  out  by  the  Regimental 
Adjutant,  and  are  directed  to  be  forwarded  monthly  to 
the  office  of  the  Adjutant- General  in  Washington. 
They  exhibit  the  number  of  sick  in  the  regiment,  and 
both  for  officers  and  for  men  the  number  gained  and 
lost  during  the  month,  specifying  the  manner  in  which 
the  accessions  and  diminutions  have  occurred.  These 
reports  were  in  the  early  part  of  the  War  quite  irreg 
ular  and  incomplete,  but  as  the  Department  gradually 
adapted  itself  to  its  enlarged  duties,  and  exacted  from 
its  officers  a  stricter  compliance  with  the  regulations  of 
the  service,  the  returns  became  more  complete  and 
thorough,  until,  during  the  later  years  of  the  war,  the 
rolls  became  as  regular  and  complete  as  in  all  proba 
bility  would  have  been  the  case  with  any  old  standing 
Army.  The  results  of  the  statistical  elaboration  of 
these  data  for  the  nine  months  commencing  with  June 
1861  were  prepared  by  Mr.  Elliott,  and  printed  as 
Document  No.  46,  of  the  Commission's  publications. 
The  mortality  rates  for  our  volunteer  armies  by  seasons, 
by  rank,  by  States,  by  region  of  service :  the  constant 


COMMISSION'S  BUKEAU  or  VITAL  STATISTICS.    459 

sickness-rates  for  the  Eastern  and  Western  forces, 
careful  comparisons  between  the  proportions  of  sickness 
and  mortality  of  the  troops,  East  and  West,  as  well  as 
comparisons  with  the  experience  of  our-  own  army  at 
other  periods,  and  with  that  of  the  British  Army 
during  the  Peninsular  and  Crimean  Campaigns,  were 
elaborately  discussed,  and  the  marked  preponderance 
of  sickness  and  deaths  among  the  troops  serving  at  the 
West  was  for  the  first  time  made  manifest.  To  de 
monstrate  such  facts  is  to  make  a  large  advance  in  the 
direction  of  a  remedy,  and  these  careful  computations 
bore  rich  fruit.  They  also  furnished,  so  far  as  the 
experience  of  these  nine  months  could  yield  it,  the 
rate  of  recruiting  requisite  for  supplying  a  given  rate 
of  diminution  from  mortality,  discharges,  sickness, 
desertions,  &c.,  as  well  as  the  number  of  men  requisite 
for  securing  a  given  constant  force  of  available  and 
effective  soldiers. 

While  transcribing  these  valuable  statistics,  the 
records  of  the  Adjutant- General's  office  permitted  the 
ready  collection  of  other  material  less  strik-  Ages  of  the 
ing  in  its  applications  to  the  immediate  ^^actr"- 
needs  of  the  Army,  yet  of  high  importance  istics, 
indirectly.  Such  are  the  ages  of  the  troops  enlisted, 
and  their  physical  characteristics,  as  deduced  from  the 
descriptive  muster-rolls.  These  are  capable  of  yield 
ing  results  of  great  scientific  value,  which  by  combi 
nation  with  each  other,  and  with  facts  previously 
known,  will  be  important  in  determining  the  relative 
efficiency  for  military  service  of  men  at  different  ages, 
and  of  different  physical  peculiarities.  The  elabora 
tion  and  discussion  of  these  materials  will  probably 


460  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

lead  to  the  establishment  of  physical  laws,  before  un 
known,  which  in  their  hygienic  application  alone, 
although  this  is  not  their  chief  apparent  value,  would 
have  been  cheaply  attained  at  one  hundred-fold  the 
outlay  of  time  and  of  money.  Early  in  1863  a  new 
class  of  examinations  was  undertaken,  to  ascertain 
the  relative  physical  condition  of  soldiers  coming  from 
different  parts  of  the  country  and  of  Europe.  The  re 
sults  arrived  at  by  these  examinations  will  probably 
afford  the  most  important  contribution  of  observations 
ever  made  in  furtherance  of  "  anthropology,"  or  the 
science  of  man,  considered  in  reference  to  his  physical 
nature.  One  Inspector  was  employed  upon  the  exami 
nation  and  measurement  of  Union  soldiers,  while 
another  was  similarly  engaged  with  rebel  prisoners. 
Their  birth-places,  ages,  strength,  capacity  of  lungs, 
statures,  dimensions  of  chest,  bodily  proportions,  pulse, 
respiration,  etc.,  were  carefully  noted,  and  the  tabula 
tion  of  these  materials  carried  on  in  the  office,  those  in 
good  health  being  distinguished  from  those  not  in  their 
usual  vigor. 

These  tabulated  records  offer  the  means  of  intelli 
gent  and  discriminating  comparison  between  troops  of 
different  nativities,  ages,  complexions,  occupations,  etc., 
and  between  American  soldiers,  and  those  of  different 
foreign  countries,  as  regards  their  physical  and  social 
condition,  and  will  probably  furnish  results  of  which 
it  would  be  difficult  to  say  whether  their  value  in  a 
medical,  military,  or  physiological  point  of  view  should 
be  regarded  as  the  greatest. 

In  August,  1863,  Mr.  Elliott  embarked  for  Europe 
to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  International  Statistical 


COMMISSION'S  BUKEAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS.      461 

Congress  at  Berlin,  and  for  the  ensuing  year 

the  collection  and  tabulation   of  materials  aouia  takes 

was    continued    by  Mr.   T.   J.   O'Connell, 


an  accomplished  and  most  excellent  man,  who  had 
served  in  the  Army  until  his  health  gave  way, 
and  rendered  his  discharge  imperative.  During  Mr. 
O'Coniiell's  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Bu 
reau,  a  large  amount  of  additional  material  was  accu 
mulated,  and  arranged  according  to  the  rules  pre 
viously  laid  down  by  Mr.  Elliott,  who  in  the  mean 
time  prepared  and  presented  to  the  Statistical  Congress 
an  account  of  the  methods  adopted  by  the  Bureau, 
together  with  some  of  their  results,  which  excited 
great  interest. 

In  July,  1864,  Dr.  B.  A.  Gould  took  charge  of  the 
Bureau,  and  has  conducted  its  work  since  that  time. 
The  Collection  of  "Loss  and  Gain  returns,"  which  had 
been  suspended  for  awhile,  was  now  resumed,  and 
much  more  extended  investigations  were  instituted 
concerning  the  physical  characteristics  of  our  soldiers, 
black  as  well  as  white.  Materials  were  drawn  from 
the  offices  of  the  Adjutant-  Generals  of  the  several 
States,  as  well  as  from  those  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  at  Washington,  in  all  of  which,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  the  most  ready  courtesy  and  cordial  aid 
were  afforded,  in  the  examination  of  their  voluminous 
records.  The  results  promise  to  solve  many  long- 
discussed  problems  of  important  practical  bearing, 
such  as  the  laws  of  human  growth  while  approach 
ing  the  maximum  stature;  of  pulmonary  capacity 
as  dependent  upon  physical  proportions  and  upon 
age;  of  strength  as  related  to  age  and  rate;  of 


462  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

complexion,  stature  and  previous  occupation  as  affect 
ing  strength  and  endurance ;  together  with  numerous 
minor  questions  of  high  scientific  value,  as  leading  to 
the  knowledge  of  laws  controlling  the  development  of 
man,  and  the  relation  of  different  human  races. 

A  curious  illustration  of  the  practical  recompense 
which  is  always  found  ultimately  to  reward  the  inves- 
interesthg  re-  tigation  of  any  physical  or  moral  truth,  has 
lo^hfagTol  recently  been  furnished  by  the  computations 
the  men.  and  researches  relative  to  that  one  subject 
which  seemed  to  be  the  least  germane  to  the  regular 
functions  of  the  Bureau.  Mr.  Elliott  had  commenced, 
and  Mr.  O'Connell  had  continued  the  collection,  from 
the  muster-rolls  at  the  Adjutant- General's  Office,  of 
the  ages  of  soldiers  from  the  different  States.  The 
ages  of  more  than  750,000  men  had  thus  been  collected, 
almost  all  of  them  being  those  of  the  original  members 
of  volunteer  regiments,  enlisted  previous  to  the  intro 
duction  of  descriptive  muster  rolls,  and  before  any 
recourse  was  had  by  the  Government  to  drafting.  The 
collection  of  these  ages  was  continued  until  it  included 
that  of  all  the  volunteer  regiments  enlisted  up  to  the 
date  when  it  was  completed,  making  in  the  aggregate 
about  a  million  of  men.  The  number  of  men  enlisted 
at  different  ages  was  found  to  follow  a  definite  mathe 
matical  law  with  marvellous  precision, — so  closely,  in 
deed,  that  the  number  as  given  by  this  law  as  enlisted 
at  any  particular  age  is  in  all  probability  even  more 
accurate  than  the  recorded  number.  In  regard  to  en 
listments  at  certain  special  years  of  age,  where  mo 
tives  for  misrepresentation  existed,  the  amount  of  such 
misrepresentation  is  thus  made  evident  and  measur- 


COMMISSION'S  BUREAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS.      463 

able,  and  the  little  inaccuracies  arising  from  the  ten 
dency  of  men  to  express  their  ages  in  the  nearest 
round  number,  rather  than  with  absolute  exactness,  is 
also  actually  recognizable,  and  made  capable  of  nume 
rical  measurement.  This,  although  very  striking,  is  not 
surprising  to  the  scientist,  who  knows  from  the  expe 
rience  of  a  lifetime  that  all  great  moral  and  social,  as 
well  as  material  movements  and  impulses,  are  subject 
to  the  control,  or  at  least  follow  the  action  of  determi 
nate  mathematical  law.  But  it  is  surprising  to  find 
that  this  definite  law  which  governed  the  enlistment 
of  our  volunteer  soldiers,  and  served  as  a  gauge  of  the 
existing  impulse  to  take  up  arms  for  their  country,  was 
measurably  the  same  for  the  far  West,  for  the  popu 
lous  Middle  States,  and  for  the  Atlantic  sea-board. 

This  disproved  the  imputations  of  certain  foreigners 
that  our  armies  were  largely  recruited  from  elements 
not  American,  for  were  the  tendency  to  enlist  The  American 

element    shown 

dependent  in  any  considerable  degree  upon  a  largely  to  pre- 
foreign  element,  this  tendency  would  vary  in  ^Tnts6,  "* 
different  portions  of  the  country  according  to  the  differ 
ent  numbers  of  immigrants  in  the  respective  portions. 
Yet  so  far  was  this  from  being  the  case,  that  while  the 
number  of  our  volunteers  at  different  years  of  age  fol 
lowed  nearly  the  simple  law  of  geometrical  progression, 
— about  four-fifths  of  the  whole  number  being  in  con 
formity  with  this  law, — the  rate  of  this  progression,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  proportion  of  enlistments  at  each 
successive  year  of  age  to  those  at  an  age  one  year 
younger,  scarcely  shows  any  token  of  variation,  whether 
the  enlistments  were  made  in  Maine,  in  Pennsylvania, 
in  Michigan,  or  in  Iowa. 


464          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  ages  of  the  officers  were  found  to  follow  an 
entirely  diverse  law,  bearing  no  resemblance  whatever 
Ages  of  officers,  to  that  regulating  the  ages  of  the  enlisted 
men.  And  on  comparing  these  two  laws  with  that  of 
the  population,  this  latter  was  found  to  be  utterly  dis 
similar  to  that  of  either  of  the  others.  And  a  farther 
examination  of  the  subject  led  incidentally  to  the  dis 
covery  of  what  appears  to  be  the  law  of  population 
unknown  before ;  and  this  in  its  turn  to  the  algebraic 
formula  which  gives  the  "expectation  of  life"  for  any 
individual,  in  any  country.  Thus  the  Life  Insurance 
Companies,  which  so  generously  contributed  to  the  finan 
cial  support  of  the  Commission  at  the  very  outset  of 
its  activity,  having  at  one  period  furnished  nearly  one 
half  of  the  funds  it  received,  may  not  improbably  derive 
from  this  unexpected  quarter  a  means  of  largely  in 
creasing  their  usefulness  by  a  reconstruction  of  their 
life-tables.  And  the  Commission  has  the  satisfaction 
of  thus  contributing  to  human  knowledge  and  to  the 
progress  of  civilization,  as  a  collateral  and  unforeseen 
result  of  the  very  humblest  of  all  its  statistical  inves 
tigations.  It  may  be  added  here  that  more  than 
one-eighth  part  of  our  volunteers  were  in  their  nine 
teenth  year,  the  youngest  military  age  at  the  time  of 
enlistment;  about  three-tenths  were  under  twenty-one; 
one-half  of  all  were  under  twenty-three  and  a  half, 
and  three-quarters  of  them  were  under  twenty-nine 
and  a  half  years  of  age. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  another  investi- 
investigation  gation  was  set  on  foot,  for  the  purpose  of 
ZT!?fb£j  ascertaining  the  effect  of  long  marches,  and 
marches,  especially  of  forced  marches  upon  the  health 


COMMISSION'S  BUREAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS.    465 

of  the  men  who  took  part  in  that  memorable  en 
gagement.  Blank  forms  were  prepared  containing  a 
series  of  questions,  and  three  inspectors  sent  to  collect 
replies.  Returns  were  received  from  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  of  the  regiments  which  were  engaged  in  the 
battle,  and  the  study  of  these,  after  proper  tabulation, 
seems  to  show  conclusively,  that  the  efficiency  of 
troops  during  and  after  the  severest  marches  depends 
in  great  degree  upon  their  diet,  the  exhausting  effect 
of  long  and  hurried  marches  being  of  small  sig 
nificance  in  comparison  with  the  effect  for  good  or  ill 
of  the  diet  provided  for  them  on  the  way. 

The  regimental  returns  of  Loss  and  Gain  are  now 
tabulated  and  aggregated  from  the  commencement  of 
the  war  to  the  close  of  the  year  1864.  The  The  Present con- 

.  .  dition  of  the  ma- 

collection  of  material  at  the  Adjutant-Gene-  temim  posses- 
ral's  office  in  Washington  had  reached  this  ^  tlle  Bu' 
point,  when,  by  directions  from  superior  authority,  in 
October,  1865,  further  access  to  the  rolls  was  refused, 
at  first  without  reason  assigned,  but  subsequently  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  enable  the  Commission  to  antici 
pate  investigations  proposed  by  the  Surgeon- General's 
Department.  The  returns  had,  at  this  date,  been  tran 
scribed  up  to  January,  1866,  excepting  a  portion  of 
those  for  three  of  the  smaller  States ;  and  the  ready 
courtesy  of  the  Adjutant- Generals  of  those  States  has 
permitted  the  completion  of  the  data  without  difficul 
ties.  It  is  naturally  a  source  of  regret  that  the  mate 
rials  are  wanting  for  the  last  four  months  of  the  war,  as 
also  for  the  colored  troops,  whose  losses  in  battle  and  by 
disease  form  an  important  part  of  the  history  of  the 
later  campaigns.  And  it  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that 


466  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

the  investigation  by  the  Commission  of  the  circum 
stances  attending  the  fearful  mortality  of  these  troops 
by  disease  might  have  led  to  the  detection  of  some  of 
the  fatal  influences,  and  the  suggestion  of  remedies. 
Still,  notwithstanding  these  deficiencies,  the  historical 
value  of  this  investigation  promises  to  be  great.  During 
the  continuance  of  the  war  great  care  was  taken  to 
make  public  no  absolute  numbers  of  the  soldiers 
of  any  Army,  or  organization,  or  those  of  the  killed, 
wounded  or  sick,  and  in  all  the  publications  of  the  Bu 
reau  only  relative  or  proportional  numbers  were  given. 
The  returns  of  Camp  Inspections  are  now  classified 
and  aggregated,  and  the  tabulated  results  bound 
in  volumes  for  permanent  preservation.  More  than 
twenty  thousand  measurements  and  examinations  of 
soldiers  and  sailors  are  on  record,  and  are  now  undergo 
ing  investigation  and  comparison.  The  statistics  of  the 
age  and  stature  and  nativity  of  more  than  eight  hun 
dred  thousand  men  are  on  record  in  the  office,  the 
numbers  being  properly  tabulated  and  assorted.  And 
it  is  confidently  anticipated  by  the  officers  of  the  Com 
mission,  that  it  may  soon  be  possible  to  assign,  with 
close  approximation  to  the  truth,  the  nativities  for  our 
whole  army — the  ages  at  which  full  stature  is  attained, 
and  the  rate  of  growth  in  approaching  this  maximum, 
the  distinctive  physical  characteristics  of  men  of  differ 
ent  nationalities,  and  also  probably  the  relative  effi 
ciency  and  endurance  which  belongs  to  different 
ages. 

The  scientific  value  of  these  results  cannot  be  esti 
mated.  Indeed  they  may  be  regarded  as  priceless,  in 
asmuch  as  the  opportunity  for  gathering  such  infor- 


COMMISSION'S  BUREAU  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS.    467 
mation  is  passed,  and  not  likely  soon  to  re-  The  scientific 

rm        value  of  the 

turn  either  in  this  country  or  abroad.  Ine  work. 
facts  obtained,  together  with  those  collected  and  elabo 
rated  by  the  Medical  Committee,  comprise  that  por 
tion  of  the  Commission's  work  which  will  remain  capa 
ble  of  constant  application,  to  minister  to  the  welfare 
of  humanity  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  increasing 
our  knowledge  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  men, 
and  thus  tending  to  the  mitigation  of  the  suffering 
caused  by  war,  and  to  the  welfare  of  our  race  in  times 
of  peace.  And  in  future  years  it  will  unquestionably 
be  accounted  not  among  the  least  of  the  services  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission,  that  it  was  thus  made  to  contri 
bute  to  our  permanent  knowledge  of  physical  laws,  as 
well  as  to  the  maintenance  of  free  institutions,  to  the 
perpetuation  of  American  nationality,  and  to  the  succor 
of  the  brave  men  who  offered  their  lives  in  defence  of 
their  country.* 

*  The  Commission  has  published  from  time  to  time  papers  of  great  general 
and  scientific  interest,  based  upon  the  material  collected  in  its  Statistical  Bu 
reau,  and  prepared  by  its  Chief.  "  Document,  No.  46,"  already  referred  to,  show 
ing  the  Loss  and  Gain  of  our  Armies,  when  read  before  the  Statisticians 
assembled  at  the  International  Congress,  at  Berlin,  called  forth  general  com 
mendation.  Both  there,  and  afterwards  in  England,  when  presented  at  a  gene 
ral  meeting  of  the  "  Society  for  the  promotion  of  Social  Science"  the  results  shown 
by  this  paper,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  low  state  of  mortality,  were  consi 
dered  very  remarkable,  and  produced  a  most  favorable  impression  of  the 
strength  of  our  National  resources.  Another  paper  "  On  the  Ages  of  the  U.  S. 
Volunteer  Soldiery,"  prepared  by  Dr.  Gould,  and  recently  printed  by  the  Com 
mission,  containing  the  results  of  a  most  intelligent,  accurate,  and  laborious  in 
vestigation,  based  upon  a  calculation  of  the  ages  of  more  than  a  million  of  men, 
forms  one  of  the  most  curious,  interesting,  and  instructive  chapters  of  the  his 
tory  of  the  war. — ED. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

FINANCIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COMMISSION. 

THE  first  financial  measure  adopted  by  the  Commis 
sion  was  to  announce  what  it  sought  to  do,  and  to  lay 
Appointment  of  before  the  people  the  question  whether  they 
daiTmnltteT  would  or  would  not  be  likely  to  save  money 
by  enabling  it  to  carry  out  its  plans.  As  a  prelimi 
nary  step,  it  was  resolved  that  inasmuch  as  "  the  pro 
fessional  and  scientific  character  of  the  members  of  the 
Commission  make  it  dependent  on  business  men  for 
the  collection  of  funds,"  certain  gentlemen  of  the 
highest  position  in  New  York*  be  requested  to  act  as 
a  Central  Financial  Committee  to  raise  funds  for  the 
Treasury  of  the  Commission.  The  gentlemen  were  at 
the  same  time  brought  into  relations  with  the  Commis 
sion  as  "Associate  Members."f  They  met  from  time  to 
time  during  the  Summer  and  Fall  of  1861.  Their 
high  position  and  repute  enabled  them  to  raise  what 
then  seemed  a  large  sum,  (twelve  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seven  dollars  and  ninety-five  cents),  in  aid 
of  the  Commission's  work.  Without  their  support 
it  could  hardly  have  survived  the  first  six  months  of 
its  existence.  They  issued  an  earnest  and  eloquent 

*  Their  names  will  be  found  at  p.  84. 
f  Sanitary  Commission  Document,  No.  6. 


468 


FINANCIAL    HISTORY   OF    THE    COMMISSION.       469 

appeal  for  funds  in   July,  1861,  which  was  scattered 
broadcast  over  the  country. 

The  earliest  calls  for  aid  published  in  the  name  of 
the  Commission  itself  bear  date  June  21st,  1861,  and 
are  embodied  in  two  brief  papers,*  one  ad-  Pirst  appeals 
dressed  to  the  people  at  large,  the  other  to  f°rmolley. 
Life  Insurance  Companies.  Both  dwell  mainly  on  the 
economic  value  of  its  work.  Neither  appeals  to  the 
humanity  or  charity  of  the  country.  Both  urge  the 
vast  importance  to  the  nation  of  preserving  the  Na 
tional  Army  in  health  and  efficiency.  Both  insist  on 
the  fact,  then  new  to  the  public,  that  in  active  cam 
paigns  many  soldiers  die  of  preventible  disease,  for  one 
destroyed  by  the  casualties  of  war.  Indeed  every  call 
for  support  ever  issued  under  authority  of  the  Commis 
sion,  except  during  the  summer  of  1862,  (and  these 
calls  were  very  few  compared  with  the  munificent  sup 
port  its  work  received,)  rely  mainly  on  the  cold-blooded 
proposition  that  every  National  soldier  is  a  costly  piece 
of  National  property,  worth  a  certain  large  number  of 
dollars  to  the  Nation,  and  that  his  death  is  a  pecuniary 
loss  to  the  Nation  and  to  every  one  of  its  citizens. 
The  Commission's  claim  to  support  by  the  people 
was  thus  put  on  the  lowest  possible  ground.  But  the 
Commission  knew  the  people.  It  was  sure  of  their 
humanity  and  Christian  charity.  These  required  no 
stimulus.  It  put  its  appeals  and  arguments  on  this 
lower  ground,  because  the  people  needed  light  only  as 
to  the  money  value  of  the  work  the  Commission  had 
undertaken. 

Up  to  July  10,  1861 — that  is  to  say,  within  ten  days 

*  Sanitary  Commission  Documents,  Nos.  4  and  5. 


470  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

after  public  notice  that  the  Commission  was  in  exist- 
of  these  ence  anc^  needed  funds  —  fifteen  hundred  and 


appeals,  seventy-eight  dollars  had  been  contributed 

to  its  support.*  This  sum  came  from  citizens  and 
corporations  of  the  City  of  New  York,  then  the  Head 
quarters  and  vital  centre  of  the  Commission.  Its 
members  felt  that  contributions  so  large  (as  they  then 
seemed)  and  made  within  so  brief  a  space,  formed  a 
ground  of  hopeful  encouragement.  For  they  had  as 
yet  done  nothing  that  entitled  the  Commission  to  pub 
lic  confidence,  nor  had  they  laid  before  the  people  any 
matured  plan  of  operations.  They  had  as  yet  devised 
no  such  plan,  nor  had  experience  yet  enabled  them  to 
answer  the  grave  criticism  they  were  forced  hourly  to 
encounter,  namely,  that  they  were  volunteering  to  do 
what  Government  was  bound  to  do,  and  what  its  offi 
cials  were  paid  for  doing. 

The  appeal  to  Life  Insurance  Companies  was  fruit 
ful.  Before  November  1,  1861,  the  Commission  had 
received  considerable  sums  from  many  of  these  Insti- 
tutions.f  It  received  from  all  sources,  up  to  August  1, 
1861,  $7,423  00,  and  to  September  1st,  $13,630  03. 

Its  second  call  for  funds  bears  date  August  13,  1861.  J 
This  paper  sets  forth  as  the  main  object  of  the  Com- 

*  The  receipts  "of  the  Commission  on  the  first  day  of  its  financial  existence, 
June  26,  1861,  may  be  worth  recording.  They  appear  on  the  first  page  of  its 
Treasurer's  cash-book,  as  follows  :  "  George  Townsend,  $50  00  ;  George  C.  An- 
thon,  $20  00;  John  A.  Stevens,  $100  00;  Eobert  B.  Minturn,  $100  00;  Anony 
mous,  $5  00;  J.  Carson  Brevoort,  $10  00;  A.  N.  Lawrence,  $100  00;  John  C. 
Greene,  $100  00;  B.  H.  McCurdy,  $100  00;  J.  S.  Merriara,  $10  00;  Phelps, 
Dodge  &  Co.,  $100  00;  Dr.  Jacob  Harsen,  $100  00."  This  little  springhead  of 
less  than  a  thousand  dollars,  as  we  shall  see,  swelled  into  a  great  flood  of  millions. 

f  See  page  84. 

J  Sanitary  Commission  Document,  No.  22,  of  which  No.  24  is  an  abridgement. 


FINANCIAL    HISTORY   OF    THE    COMMISSION.       471 

mission,  the  employment  of  Sanitary  Inspec-  Itg  second  ap. 
tors.     Six  were  in  the  field,  and  the  Commis-  PeaL 
sion  ventured  even  then  to  declare  that  it  could  employ 
three  times  as  many  with  advantage  to  the  Army. 

In  November,  1861,  the  Commission  seemed  near 
the  end  of  its  resources.  The  balance  in  its  treasury 
on  the  first  of  that  month  was  but  $1,212  04.  The 
battle  of  Bull  Run  had  made  heavy  drafts  on  its 
Treasury,  for  the  Commission  found  itself  even  then 
somehow  compelled  to  go  beyond  its  original  pro 
gramme  of  scientific  investigation  and  advice — to  hire 
skilled  Hospital  nurses  and  to  purchase  extra  Hospi 
tal  appliances  and  supplies.  But  that  day  (then  held 
so  disastrous)  brought  no  increased  flow  of  contribu 
tions  to  its  Treasury,  such  as  followed  the  great  bat 
tles  of  subsequent  campaigns.  For  the  Commission 
was  as  yet  hardly  known  to  the  people,  nor  had  it  yet 
been  enabled  to  organize  any  system  of  battle-field 
Relief  on  a  large  scale. 

It  opened  its  seventh  session  at  "Washington,  Dec. 
3d,  1861,  and  this  session  was  thought  likely  to  be  its 
last.  But  it  was  an  active  session.  It  urged  upon 
Government  with  ultimate  success  the  advantages 
of  "  Pavilion"  Hospitals — mere  temporary  shanties — 
over  the  hotels  and  warehouses  that  had  theretofore 
been  perverted  into  Military  Hospitals.  It  decided  to 
undertake  the  preparation  of  a  series  of  medical  and 
surgical  monographs  for  distribution  among  Surgeons 
of  the  Army  and  Navy.  These  were  meant  to  be 
substitutes,  however  imperfect,  for  professional  libra 
ries,  to  which  Surgeons  in  active  service  could  seldom 
resort. 


472  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

A  few  days  before  the  session  opened,  a  circular 
letter  (pp.  24)  was  printed  in  New  York  under  au- 
cimiiar  letter  thority  of  the  Commission,  to  be  signed  by 
of  Dec,  1861,  its  members  individually,  and  by  them  ad 
dressed  to  such  persons  as  they  might  think  likely  to 
be  influenced  by  its  statements.  It  dwelt  mainly  on  the 
mere  money  value  to  the  country  of  the  life  and  health 
of  every  soldier  in  the  service  of  the  country.  It  af 
firmed,  moreover,  that  the  "  Medical  Bureau"  organ 
ized  long  ago  for  a  little  army  of  fifteen  thousand 
regulars  was  naturally  and  necessarily  disqualified  by 
its  habits  for  the  gigantic  work  suddenly  thrown  upon 
it,  of  providing  for  the  multitudinous  hosts  then 
enlisted  or  enlisting  under  officers  fresh  from  the  desk 
or  the  plough,  and  as  inexperienced  in  camp  life  as  the 
rank  and  file  they  were  suddenly  called  on  to  protect 
from  disease  in  camp  and  quarters.  On  these  grounds 
it  appealed  to  the  people  to  sustain  the  Commission  in 
its  work  as  a  temporary  organization  auxiliary  to  the 
Medical  Bureau,  and  designed  to  aid  that  Bureau  till 
it  could  be  strengthened  by  legislation  and  made  equal 
to  the  emergency. 

This  Circular  somewhat  strengthened  the  Treasury 
condition  of  the  of  the  Commission.  It  received  $19,682.95 

.treasury  in  tne 

early  part  of  during  that  month  ;  $910.75  during  Janu- 
heltntPP    "  ary,    1862.      Its    balance   in   bank   March 


1st,  1862,  was  $7,249.39.  During  February,  1862, 
it  had  paid  out  7,200.62.  Its  members  inclined 
daily  more  and  more  to  the  opinion  that  their  work 
must  soon  be  abandoned.  They  saw  it  growing 
larger  and  more  costly  every  day.  But  there  was 
as  yet  no  corresponding  increase  in  the  means  to 


FINANCIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COMMISSION.         473 

support  it.  Such  increase  seemed  at  that  time  obtain 
able  only  by  personal  solicitation  or  by  "  sensational" 
appeals  to  the  public.  Neither  method  was  to  their 
taste.  They  could  not  foresee  the  unprecedented  mu 
nificence  of  the  Pacific  States,  and  the  equally  unpre 
cedented  results  of  the  "  Sanitary  Fairs."  They  felt, 
moreover,  that  Government  was  not  giving  them  the 
support  to  which  they  were  entitled  under  the  order 
of  June,  1861 ;  that  it  was  doing  little  or  nothing  to 
strengthen  the  Medical  Bureau,  or  for  the  sanitary  in 
terests  of  the  Army.  They  doubted,  and  not  without 
reason,  whether  they  could  fairly  ask  the  country  to 
sustain  any  longer  a  costly  volunteer  organization, 
originally  designed  to  aid  Government  in  a  sudden 
emergency.  For  the  manifest  defects  which  that  or 
ganization  was  meant  in  some  degree  to  supply,  re 
mained  after  nearly  a  year  without  correction,  and 
almost  without  notice. 

On  the  morning  of  March  10th,  1862,  certain  mem 
bers  of  the  Commission  attended  the  Military  Com 
mittee  of  the  House,  and  were  heard  at  NCW  appeal  for 
length  in  support  of  a  bill  to  reform  the  *™  in  MM*, 

LooZ — Its    laii- 

Medical  Bureau.  When  they  left  the  Capi-  we, 
tol  they  found  Pennsylvania  Avenue  blocked  up  by  a 
great  column  of  men,  guns,  caissons,  and  Army 
wagons  moving  towards  the  Long  Bridge.  The  Army 
of  the  Potomac  had  assumed  the  offensive  at  last. 
Telegrams  and  letters  were  instantly  sent  to  members 
of  the  Central  Finance  Committee  in  New  York  from 
the  Headquarters  of  the  Commission  at  244  F  street : 
"  A  forward  movement  had  commenced — a  great  battle 
was  probably  at  hand.  The  Commission  would  need 


60 


474  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY   COMMISSION. 

large  additional  means.  Ten  thousand  dollars  should 
be  raised  in  New  York  at  once."  The  members  of  the 
Committee  thus  addressed  responded  coldly,  and  with 
abundant  reason.  "  Capitalists  had  done  enough  to 
help  Government  through  the  emergency  of  last 
Spring.  Government  ought  by  this  time  to  be  able  to 
take  care  of  its  soldiers  without  amateur  help.  No  more 
money  could  be  raised  in  New  York."  The  Commit 
tee  was  not  called  together  and  virtually  ceased  to  exist. 
This  response  from  the  earliest  and  most  generous 
supporters  of  the  Commission  was  disheartening. 
Effect  of  this  There  were  but  about  seven  thousand  dollars 

nriLTaUto  in  its  Treasur.y>  ancl  tnere  was  no  prospect 
Commission.  that  this  small  balance  would  be  much  in 
creased.  Active  operations  in  the  field  such  as  now 
seemed  commencing  at  last  would  quadruple  the  cost 
of  its  work.  Its  members  would  be  held  in  some 
degree  morally  responsible  for  the  sufferings  and  pri 
vations  of  men  on  the  march  and  after  every  battle, 
and  legally  responsible,  moreover,  for  such  engage 
ments  and  contracts  as  their  exhausted  Treasury  should 
fail  to  meet.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Commission  had 
already  received  voluntary  contributions  amounting  to 
$53,720.45,  and  seemed  gaining  ground  in  public  es 
teem.  A  motion  to  disband  was  anxiously  discussed 
at  Washington  on  the  receipt  of  this  chilling  response 
from  New  York,  and  unanimously  negatived.  The 
question  was  reconsidered  at  a  meeting  of  members  of 
the  Commission  in  New  York,  (March  28th,)  and 
again  decided  in  the  negative.  Every  member  of  the 
Commission  felt  that  his  personal  reputation,  and  what 
ever  worldly  goods  he  might  possess  were  pledged  to 


FINANCIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COMMISSION.         475 

the  prosecution  of  the  work  the  Commission  had  un 
dertaken. 

War  had  now  begun  in  earnest,  East  and  West. 
Reports,  often  exaggerated,  of  the  sufferings  of  wounded 
men  and  of  defects  in  the  equipment  of  Hospital  trans- 
Military  Hospitals  inflamed  public  sym-  p«t  service, 
pathy  with  the  privations  of  the  Army.  General  at 
tention  was  thus  directed  to  the  work  of  the  Commis 
sion.  But  its  HOSPITAL  TRANSPORT  SERVICE,  organ 
ized  in  April,  1862,  and  maintained  to  the  end  of  the 
lamentable  Peninsular  Campaign,  first  made  the  work 
of  the  Commission  known  to  the  whole  people.  That 
work  became  then  visible  to  the  North.  Boston,  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  saw  thousands  of  sick  and 
wounded  men  brought  home  in  spacious,  well-venti 
lated  transports  liberally  equipped  with  every  sanitary 
appliance — fully  supplied  with  comforts  and  even  lux 
uries.  Each  of  these  transports  had  its  staff  of  Phy 
sicians  and  Surgeons,  of  Hospital  dressers  chosen 
from  among  the  elite  of  our  medical  schools,  and  of 
loyal  women  of  the  highest  social  grade  serving  as 
matrons  and  nurses.  Contributions  to  the  Treasury 
of  the  Commission  rose  from  $7,382.43  in  June  to 
$24,381.46  in  July.  It  had  received  in  September, 
1861,  $430.81,  and  in  October,  $890.00.* 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  Commis 
sion  bore  the  whole  expense  of  this  costly  Transport 
service.  It  could  not  have  maintained  the  Flotilla  for 

*  Its  comparatively  large  balances  in  November  and  December,  1861,  were 
due  partly  to  a  liberal  contribution  from  the  people  of  New  England  ($10,000), 
sent  in  through  Mr.  J.  Huntington  Wolcott,  of  Boston,  afterwards  a  most  effi 
cient  member  of  the  Commission,  partly  to  drafts  on  the  fund  raised  by  the 
"Central  Financial  Committee"  during  the  first  months  of  the  war. 


476  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

HOW  far  the  a  single  week.  Most  of  its  ships  and  steam- 
Srdlt^rTm  ers  were  chartered  by  the  Quartermaster- 
its  Treasury,  General.  "  Ordinary  rations"  for  crew,  offi 
cers  and  patients,  were  issued  by  the  Commissary- 
General.  But  the  Commission  made  the  transports 
confided  to  its  charge  safe  and  wholesome.  It  set  up 
ventilating-  apparatus,  provided  abundant  stores  of 
everything  needed  by  sick  and  wounded  men,  en 
gaged  surgeons  and  nurses,  organized  special  diet- 
kitchens  and  other  offices,  and  thus  gave  many  thou 
sand  disabled  soldiers  on  their  way  home  what  Go 
vernment  could  not  or  did  not  then  provide  them — 
wholesome  quarters,  suitable  diet,  careful  nursing  and 
skilled  professional  treatment.  This  work,  while  it 
lasted,  cost  the  Treasury  of  the  Commission  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars  a  month.  But  its  value  be 
came  more  and  more  visible  and  palpable  to  the  North 
as  one  Hospital  Transport  after  another  cast  anchor  in 
a  northern  port.  Contributions  to  the  Central  Trea 
sury  rapidly  increased.  During  July  and  August, 
1862,  it  received  nearly  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  labor  thrown  on 
the  New  York  members  of  the  Commission  by  the 
Hospital  Transport  service,  first  compelled  them  to 
employ  paid  agents.  They  found  it  absolutely  neces 
sary  to  hire  an  office  (498  Broadway)  and  engage  a 
Cashier  and  Clerk.  This  office  was  soon  thereafter 
removed  to  No.  823  Broadway,  where  the  Treasurer's 
books  and  vouchers  were  kept,  and  the  Standing 
Committee  met  daily  till  the  end  of  the  war.* 

*  It  is  no  more  than  justice  to  name  Mr.  Benjamin  Collins  and  Mr.  Charles 
G.  Lathrop  and  Mr.  Samuel  H.  Stebbins  as  among  the  most  faithful  and  de 
voted  Agents  of  the  Commission  in  New  York. 


FINANCIAL   HISTORY   OF   THE   COMMISSION.       477 

But  this  Hospital  Transport  service  was  far  the 
most  costly  work  the  Commission  had  ever  under 
taken.  It  was,  therefore,  obliged,  during  it  asks  for  new 
the  dark  summer  of  1862,  to  call  on  the  ™*£^% 
country  for  help  once  more.  It  did  so  with  1862, 
more  fervor  of  expression  than  ever  before  or  ever 
afterwards.  What  it  had  already  accomplished  with 
slender  means  and  imperfect  organization,  had  shown 
its  members  that  its  work  might  be  so  enlarged  and 
systematized  as  to  render  substantial  service  to  the 
country.  They  saw  that  it  was  daily  saving  the  coun 
try  scores  if  not  hundreds  of  lives,  not  indirectly  and 
presumptively  through  advice  to  Army  Surgeons  and 
suggestions  of  Sanitary  Reform,  but  directly  and  pal 
pably  by  food  and  stimulants  given  to  men  sinking 
from  exhaustion,  and  by  the  transportation  to  the 
healthy  climate  of  the  North,  from  pestilential  swamps 
and  from  field  hospitals,  little  better  than  swamps 
(and  in  some  respects  worse,)  of  thousands  who  were 
dying  of  malarious  disease  or  of  trifling  wounds  aggra 
vated  by  a  poisonous  atmosphere. 

Hence  their  "  Appeal  to  all  loyal  people  of  the 
United  States,"  (San.  Com.  Doc.,  No.  44,  July  4,  1862,) 
for  money  and  supplies,  "  at  once  and  in  abundance," 
dwelt  on  the  sufferings  and  privations  of  the  Penin 
sular  Army  in  a  tone  unlike  that  of  any  other  appeal 
they  ever  issued. 

The  Commission  had  not  learned  till  then  how  much 
suffering  the  people  could  remedy,  and  what  Treasury  again 
service  the  people  could  render  the  National  aemwias  of7 the 
cause  through  its  agency.  A  few  months  ^m^ngdnsse°f 
later  set  in  that  great  flood  tide  of  Gold  tember,  1862, 


478  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

from  the  Pacific  Coast,  which  made  earnest  and  impas 
sioned  appeals  to  the  public  unnecessary.  Gen.  Pope's 
campaign  in  northern  Virginia  obliged  the  Commission 
to  issue  another  call  for  funds  (September  11, 1862.)  A 
third  was  issued  (September  24,  1862)  after  the  battle 
of  Antietam.  They  were  generously  answered.  But 
during  September  the  Commission's  receipts  were  only 
$20,916  80,  and  its  expenses  $26,646  01.  Its  balance, 
October  1st,  was  less  than  seventeen  thousand  dollars. 
The  financial  infancy  of  the  Commission  ended  in 
September,  1862.  For  fifteen  months  it  had  lived 
The  sources  and  from  hand  to  mouth.  It  had  been  more 

tarTbTti°ofnCs0to  than  once  on  the  Point  of  death  kj  inanition. 
this  time,  It  had  never  been  entitled  to  count  with 

confidence  on  sixty  days  of  solvency.  But  its  work 
had  prospered  beyond  the  hopes  of  its  founders.  The 
Treasurer  reported  at  its  Ninth  Session,  (Washington, 
September,  1862,)  that  its  receipts  to  the  tenth  of  that 
month  had  been  $158,501  10.  Its  list  of  contributions 
proved  that  it  had  the  confidence  of  the  most  intelli 
gent  business  men  of  the  country,  and  many  contribu 
tions  of  small  amount  from  "  the  workmen  of  sundry 
factories,"  showed  that  the  "  masses"  were  beginning 
to  trust  it  as  their  Almoner.  Its  money  receipts  had 
been  thus  far  chiefly  from  the  Cities  of  New  York, 
Philadelphia  and  Boston,  but  contributions  now  began 
to  flow  in  from  the  whole  country,  East  and  West, 
some  of  them  small  in  amount,  but  important  as  a 
sign  of  popular  sympathy.  State,  City,  Town  and  Vil 
lage  organizations  were  springing  up  throughout  the 
land  to  aid  it  with  supplies  of  clothing,  bedding  and 
hospital  stores.  These  were  equivalent  to  large  con- 


FINANCIAL    HISTORY   OF    THE    COMMISSION.       479 

tributions  of  money  to  its  Treasury.  The  city  of 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  certain  towns  in  Maine,  deserve 
special  notice  as  among  its  earliest  and  most  generous 
supporters.  Up  to  the  fall  of  1862  they  had  done 
more  for  the  Commission  than  New  York,  Phila 
delphia  and  Boston  together,  if  the  relative  wealth  of 
these  several  communities  be  taken  into  account. 

In  October,  1862,  came  the  first  considerable  instal 
ment  of  aid  from  California.  The  Commission's  re 
ceipts  from  October  1st  to  November  1st  California's  con- 
were  $213,964  23,  and  its  disbursements  tribution- 
$43,876  93,  more  than  double  any  previous  outlay. 
Of  these  receipts  $206,837  65  came  from  communities 
beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Among  the  items  that 
made  up  the  balance  contributed  at  the  East  appears, 
"  Collection  in  Trinity  Church,  X.  Y.,  October  8,  1862, 
on  the  National  service  of  Humiliation  and  Prayer 
appointed  by  the  House  of  Bishops  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  (during  the  Session  of  its  Triennial 
Convention)  $290  95."  This  endorsement  of  the  Com 
mission  by  the  head  of  every  Northern  Diocese  proves 
that  it  had  then  become  known  throughout  the  country 
as  a  National  organization,  working  for  National  ob 
jects  and  working  not  wholly  in  vain. 

The  munificence  of  California  and  her  sisterhood  of 
Pacific  States  is  the  subject  of  another  chapter, 
and  need  not  be  dwelt  on  here.  It  was  Iis  value  ^^ 
unprecedented  and  unlocked  for.  The  and  indirect, 
eldest  of  the  States  and  Territories  that  thus  lavished 
their  bounty  on  the  Commission  as  the  National 
Army  Relief  Agent,  had  existed  as  a  civilized  com 
munity  hardly  seventeen  years.  The  Army  they  so 


480  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

generously  aided  and  relieved  was  fighting  thousands 
of  miles  from  their  frontier.  Between  them  and  its 
battle-fields  were  mountain  ranges  and  desert  tracts, 
barriers  practically  more  formidable  than  the  Ocean 
that  divides  the  old  world  from  the  new.  But  the 
people  of  the  Pacific  Coast  were  impelled  in  God's 
good  Providence  to  help  the  National  Army  through 
the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  their  work  will  hold 
high  place  in  history.  They  so  upheld  and  strength 
ened  this  novel  and  untried  popular  agency  that  it  be 
came  generally  recognized  as  the  chosen  almoner  of 
the  whole  people.  The  great  "Sanitary  Fairs"  of 
1864,  which  brought  millions  into  its  Treasury  and 
into  the  Treasuries  of  its  branches,  and  which  sus 
tained  it  to  the  end  of  the  war,  would  never  have  been 
organized  had  not  the  bounty  of  the  Pacific  States 
enabled  the  Commission  to  prove  itself  a  National 
organization  working  on  a  National  scale. 

The  battles  of  Fredericksburg,  (Dec.  llth,  1862,)  of 
Chancellorsville  (May  3d,  1863),  and  of  Gettysburg- 
Contributions  (July  3d,  1863),  brought  considerable  rein- 
i8°6m2  DtoCe Juiy|  forcement  to  the  Central  Treasury.  Its  re- 
1863,  ceipts  during  that  period  were  : 


From  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Other  Sources. 

Total. 

Dec.      1862, 

$104,630  52 

$62,523  62 

$168,154  14 

Jan.      1863, 

47,790  44 

2,191  22 

49,981  66 

Feb. 

15,069  15 

6,022  35 

21,091  50 

March     " 

61,194  56 

4,482  12 

65,676  63 

April      " 

1,451  98 

1,178  40 

2,630  38 

May 

11,109  95 

4,381  65 

15,491  60 

June 

11,800  00 

17,372  31 

29,172  31 

July 

28,628  54 

28,628  54 

Every  great  battle  was  usually  followed  by  a  freshet 


FINANCIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COMMISSION.         481 

in  the  stream  of  public  bounty.  But  after  each  came 
a  still  greater  drain  on  the  Treasury.  For  Vast  increase  m 

its  expenditures 

the  purchase  of  supplies  vast  sums  were  ex-  for  Amy  relief, 
pended  by  the  Central  Treasury  and  by  the  Branches 
East  and  West.  But  the  stores  thus  bought  were  of  small 
account  beside  the  great  mass  of  supplies  furnished  by 
the  people  in  kind.  Both  were  kept  flowing  south 
ward  in  a  steady  current  to  every  Military  Station  to 
the  Rappahannock,  to  Charleston,  to  New  Orleans, 
Nashville  and  Kansas. 

All  this  involved  very  heavy  outlay.  During  the 
last  six  months  of  1863  the  disbursements  of  the 
Commission  were  two-fold  its  receipts.  It  entered 
on  the  year  1864  with  a  balance  of  $41,725.28.  Dur 
ing  the  preceding  month  of  December  it  had  spent 
$64,634.28.  To  support  its  work  at  this  rate  of  ex 
penditure  seemed  impossible.  The  ordinary  contribu 
tions  of  the  Atlantic  Seaboard  and  the  West  were  far 
too  small.  Another  great  flow  of  treasure  from  the 
Pacific  States  could  hardly  be  hoped  for.  Certain 
great  Fairs,  in  aid  of  the  Commission,  to  be  held  at 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  were  talked 
of,  but  their  result  was  wholly  uncertain. 

In  view  of  its  fast  failing  resources  the  Commission 
published  (December  7th,  1863)  the  last  formal  appeal 
for  funds  that  it  was  obliged  to  issue.  (San.  L*st  appeal  is- 
Com.  Doc.  No.  69,  pp.  64.)  This  paper  sets  ber,  ises.6" 
forth  the  results  of  its  work,  and  insists,  as  usual,  on 
the  economic  value  of  that  work  to  the  country.  But 
it  expressly  declines  to  solicit  contributions  or  to 
stimulate  public  sympathy  by  any  recital  of  the  many 
pathetic  and  touching  incidents  which  the  Commission 


61 


482  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

could  have  put  on  record.  It  simply  submitted  to  the 
good  sense  of  the  people  a  dry  statement  of  the  work 
the  Commission  was  doing.  "  If  means  be  freely  sup 
plied  as  heretofore,"  it  says,  "the  work  of  the  Com 
mission  will  be  kept  up.  If  not,  it  will  be  abandoned ; 
and  to  keep  it  up  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  must  be  raised  before  February  1st, 
1864." 

This  avowal  was  meant  by  members  of  the  Com 
mission  as  public  notice  that  the  Commission  would 
soon  cease  to  exist.  Stimulated  by  the  unlooked  for 
munificence  of  the  Pacific  States,  that  work  had  out 
grown  the  support  on  which  it  could  certainly  and 
steadily  depend.  Yet  the  proofs  of  confidence  given  it 
by  the  people  were  never  stronger  than  at  this  very 
time. 

During  the  first  ten  days  of  December,  1863,  many 
hundreds  of  "collections"  ("Thanksgiving  Day  col- 
Thanksgiving  lections"  mostly)  were  received  by  the  Cen- 
ooiiections.  £ra}  anc[  Branch  Treasuries  from  as  many 
churches  and  congregations  scattered  over  all  the 
loyal  States.  Many  of  these  collections  came  from 
obscure  hamlets  and  from  thinly  settled  rural  districts. 
They  were  mostly  small  in  amount,  made  up  of  pen 
nies  contributed  by  small  farmers  and  mechanics.  But 
they  proved  that  the  work  of  the  Commission  had 
become  known  to  the  whole  people  and  not  merely  to 
the  capitalists  and  business  men  of  our  chief  cities. 

Before  February,  1864,  the  Fairs  projected  in  aid  of 
the  Central  Treasury  had  assumed  such  dimensions  as 
The  Sanitary  ^°  promise  it  the  speedy  receipt  of  much 
Fairs,  more  than  "  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 


FINANCIAL   HISTORY    OF   THE    COMMISSION.       483 

dollars."  The  Commission  and  its  Branches  had  re 
ceived  many  contributions  from  the  proceeds  of  con 
certs,  Fairs,  Tableaux,  and  the  like.  But  in  the  au 
tumn  of  1863,  and  thenceforward  till  the  war  was 
over,  these  efforts  in  its  aid  assumed  a  magnitude  be 
yond  example.  Some  of  them  were  designed  to  aid 
the  Central  Treasury,  that  is,  the  Commission  itself; 
some  to  aid  its  Branches,  and  some  for  the  benefit  of 
both.  They  began  with  the  "  Great  North-western 
Fair"  of  Chicago,  October  and  November,  1863.  It 
produced  nearly  seventy-nine  thousand  dollars.  No 
part  of  its  proceeds  reached  the  Central  Treasury. 
They  were  spent  by  the  Chicago  Branch  in  the  pur 
chase  and  the  "  making  up"  of  material  to  be  dis 
pensed  on  the  field  by  agents  of  the  Commission. 
That  so  great  a  sum  should  have  been  so  raised  in  a 
city  that  was  a  wilderness  thirty  years  ago  seemed 
marvellous  in  1863.  But  the  example  of  Chicago  was 
soon  followed  in  all  the  cities  of  the  land  and  sur 
passed  in  some  of  them. 

The  history  of  these  "  Sanitary  Fairs"  as  they  were 
commonly  called,  need  not  be  repeated  here.  The 
aggregate  amount  thus  contributed  to  the  Proceeds  of 

many  of   them 

Central     Treasury     (two     millions     seven  went  into  the 


hundred     and    thirty-six    thousand    eight  t0 


hundred  and  sixty-eight  dollars  and  eighty-four  cents,) 
may  well  surprise  all  who  did  not  see  for  themselves 
with  what  energy  and  talent  these  undertakings  were 
conducted.  But  the  whole  amount  thereby  contributed 
toward  the  work  of  «the  Commission  was  very  much 
larger.  The  managers  of  some  of  the  Fairs  enume 
rated  in  the  appendix  applied  the  proceeds  of  their 


484  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

work  mainly  to  their  own  local  supply  system  and  sent 
only  some  small  balance  to  the  Central  Treasury.  The 
proceeds  of  many  other  Fairs  were  (like  that  of 
Chicago)  wholly  devoted  to  local  work,  and  as  these 
contributed  nothing  to  the  Central  Treasury  they  do 
not  appear  in  the  appendix  at  all.  But  the  many 
hundred  thousand  dollars  thus  raised  enured  neverthe 
less  to  the  benefit  of  the  Commission,  for  they  kept  its 
Depots  and  Relief  Stations  steadily  replenished  with 
supplies,  of  immense  value  in  money,  and  of  value 
hardly  to  be  estimated  in  money  to  the  sick  and  suffer 
ing  men  they  relieved,  and  to  the  National  cause. 

The  first  direct  aid  in  money  thus  given  the  Com 
mission  was  a  most  timely  contribution  of  fifty  thou 
sand  dollars  from  the  "  Sanitary  Fair"  of  Boston  in 
January  1864.  Other  and  still  larger  contributions 
followed  it.  Before  the  summer  of  that  year  was 
ended  the  Commission  had  received  more  than  thirteen 
hundred  thousand  dollars  from  the  Fairs  of  Brooklyn 
and  New  York  alone.  It  entered  on  June  1864  with  a 
cash  balance  of  more  than  a  million. 

In  fact  its  work  had  now  grown  too  large  to  be 
carried  on  without  a  great  reserve  fund.  During  May 
Some  items  of  June  and  July  1864  the  average  monthly 

its    expenditure  ,  ,     m 

at  this  period,  expenditure  oi  the  Central  1  reasury  ex 
ceeded  two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars.  On 
the  rosters  and  pay-rolls  of  the  Commission,  East  and 
West,  were  the  names  of  more  than  five  hundred  per 
sons  of  every  grade  from  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of 
eminence  to  "  contraband"  teamsters  and  cooks.  Its 
"  Homes  and  Lodges"  were  everywhere.  It  was  buy 
ing  supplies  for  battle-field  relief  on  a  great  scale 


FINANCIAL    HISTORY    OF   THE    COMMISSION.       485 

while  prices  were  rising  fast  and  at  a  fearful  rate.  It 
was  building  "  Hospital  Railroad  Cars"  for  the  trans 
portation  of  disabled  men  from  camp  to  Hospital  and 
providing  them  skilled  attendance  on  the  way.  It  had 
its  own  flotilla  of  Steamers,  sailing  vessels  and  barges 
on  the  Atlantic  Coast  and  on  Western  rivers,  chartered 
or  owned  by  the  Commission  itself  (and  not  by  any 
department  of  Government,  as  in  1862)  and  its  own 
wagon  trains  through  which  ship-loads  of  life-saving 
antiscorbutic  stores  were  daily  reaching  men  already 
tainted  with  scurvy  as  they  lay  in  the  trenches  and 
rifle-pits  before  Petersburg  or  lingered  in  unhealthy 
camps  along  the  southern  sea-board.  Many  thousand 
claims  on  Government  for  pensions,  back  pay  and 
bounty  had  been  entrusted  to  it  for  gratuitous  collec 
tion — many  hundred  thousand  men  were  registered  on 
the  books  of  its  Hospital  Directory  and  the  convales 
cence,  the  discharge  or  the  death  of  every  one  of  these 
thousands  was  duly  noted  day  by  day.  It  was  in  short 
carrying  out  the  purpose  not  merely  of  its  creation, 
(for  that  purpose  was  mainly  scientific  and  advisory) 
but  the  farther  purpose  insensibly  forced  on  it  by  the 
people,  of  doing  or  trying  to  do  for  the  health,  comfort 
and  efficiency  of  the  soldier  whatever  the  inflexibility 
of  Regulations  forbade  his  officers  to  do  for  him  and 
that  could  be  done  without  prejudice  to  discipline  and 
good  order. 

Other  chapters  of  the  Commission's  final  Report  will 
show  how  far  it  was  enabled  to  do  its  appointed  work 
while  the  war  lasted.      The  history  of  its  Funds  hence. 
financial  hopes  and  fears  and  of  what  little  forth  sufficient, 
effort  it  made  to  obtain  money  for  its  work  ends  here. 


486  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

The  great  fund  put  at  its  disposal  by  the  "  Sanitary 
Fairs"  of  1864,  wasted  fast  away  under  the  cost  of  its 
multifarious  agencies.  But  its  Central  Treasury  was 
refreshed  till  the  war  was  over  by  a  steady  stream  of 
unsolicited  popular  bounty.  Though  this  fell  far  short 
of  its  constant  daily  expenditure  it  was  large  enough 
to  show  that  the  Commission  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  the  people,  and  that  if  the  war  should  be  prolonged 
till  the  proceeds  of  the  "  Great  Fairs"  were  exhausted, 
the  Commission  could  appeal  to  the  people  once  more 
in  the  sure  and  certain  hope  that  its  appeal  would  be 
generously  answered. 

In  the  spring  of  1865  Richmond  fell,  and  the  slave 
holders'  Rebellion  collapsed.  July,  1865,  found  the 
state  of  its  Trea-  Commission  with  a  quarter  of  a  millipn  in 
of  the  war,  its  Treasury,  but  with  much  costly  work 
still  on  its  hands.  Its  Special  Relief  service  in  aid  of 
discharged  and  disabled  men  could  not  be  abruptly 
given  up  without  producing  cruel  disappointment  and 
wide-spread  suffering,  nor  was  it  possible  to  close  its 
Pension,  Bounty  and  Back  Pay  offices,  scattered  over 
the  whole  North.  Through  these  offices  the  Commis 
sion  had  undertaken  gratuitously  to  solicit  the  claims 
on  Government  of  some  fifty  thousand  men  who  had 
been  disabled  in  the  National  service  and  of  women 
and  children  representing  men  who  had  died  in  the 
National  service.  Many  of  these  claims  could  not  be 
worked  through  the  machinery  of  Government  in  less 
than  two  years.  The  Commission  had  on  its  hands 
also  the  "  Lincoln  Home,"*  an  establishment  in  which 
many  disabled  and  deserving  soldiers  had  long  been 

*  Grove  Street,  New  York. 


FINANCIAL   HISTORY   OF   THE   COMMISSION.       487 

supported,  and  another  "  Home"  for  the  same  object 
in  Yates  County,  IN".  Y.  It  was,  moreover,  bound  to 
publish  some  account  of  the  great  fund  the  people 
had  confided  to  it.  Whether  the  small  balance  now* 
in  its  Treasury  will  enable  it  to  do  all  this  is  a  ques 
tion  about  which  its  members  feel  some  anxiety. 

If  the  record  of  the  Commission  possess  any  but  a 
local  and  temporary  value,  it  is  because  it  shows  how 
much  a  Free  People  can  do  for  its  Armies  in  Less  on  taught 
the  Field,  and  even  during  the  actual  shock  history, 
of  battle  without  impairing  the  rightful  and  necessary 
supremacy  of  discipline.  No  Army  had  ever  before 
received  such  aid  on  a  large  scale  and  during  a  series 
of  great  campaigns.  The  military  representatives  of 
the  Powers  of  Europe  in  "  International  Congress"  as 
sembled,  at  Geneva,  in  1863,  discussed  the  feasibility 
of  popular  unofficial  relief  to  Armies  in  active  service, 
and  generally  condemned  the  project  as  not  only  Uto 
pian  but  mischievous  and  disorganizing.f 

The  aggregate  amount  of  money  expended  through 
the  agencies  of  the  Commission,  and  the  money  value 
of  the  supplies  contributed  to  the  Depots  of     The  whole 
the  Commission,  cannot  be  stated  with  pre-  ceipts, 
cision.     The  value  of  these  supplies  is  estimated  at 

*  May,  1866. 

f  Among  the  questions  discussed  was  the  following :  It  appears  to  have  been 
suggested  by  M.  Twining,  de  Londres,  philanthrope  eminent.  "Lorsque  l'e"tat 
d*  un  blesse  sur  le  champ  de  bataille  ne  laisse  pas  le  moindre  espoir  de  gue*rison, 
convient  il  apre"s  lui  avoir  administr^  les  secours  de  la  Eeligion,  et  procure",  au- 
tant  que  les  circonstances  le  permettent,  un  moment  de  recueillement,  de  mettre 
fin  a  son  agonie  de  la  maniere  la  moins  penible,  et  d'empecher  ainsi  qu'  il  ne 
meure  un  peu  plus  tard,  la  fievre  dans  le  cerveau,  et  peut-£tre  le  blaspheme  a  la 
bouche."  This  nice  point  of  professional  casuistry  seems  to  have  been  left  un 
decided  by  the  Conference  of  Continental  Soldiers  and  Surgeons. 


488  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

about  fifteen  millions.  The  cash  receipts  of  the  Cen 
tral  Treasury  to  May  1,  1866,  were  $4,962,014  26. 

The  receipts  of  the  Branch  Treasuries  were  never 
reported.  These  Branches  must  have  received  and  ex- 
Eeceipts  of  the  pended  two  millions  more  at  the  very  least.* 
ries,  With  each  of  them  were  affiliated  hundreds 

or  thousands  of  "  Sewing  Circles"  and  "  Soldiers'  Aid 
Societies,"  established  in  every  loyal  Town,  Village  and 
country  neighborhood  through  all  the  North.  Each 
of  these  raised  a  certain  amount  of  money — larger  or 
smaller  for  its  own  local  work  of  gathering  supplies — 

*  In  order  to  give  some  idea  of  the  vastness  of  the  work  of  the  Commission, 
we  annex  a  statement  published  by  one  of  its  Branches — that  at  Philadelphia : 

Summary  of  the  Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  the  Philadelphia  Agency  of  the  U.  S. 
Sanitary  Commission  to  January  1,  1866. 

The  total  amount  in  cash  contributed  to  the  Treasury  of  the 
Philadelphia  Agency,  including  the  proceeds  of  the  Great 
Central  Fair,  is $1,186,545  14 

The  total  amount  in  cash  contributed  to  the  Relief  Committee 
of  the  Women's  Pennsylvania  Branch,  excluding  $2,551  50, 
received  from  the  Treasurer  of  the  Philadelphia  Agency,  and 
$1,681  31  received  by  them  from  contractors  for  work  done,  is  29,744  00 

Total  amount  of  cash  received  by  the  Philadelphia  Agency $1,216,289  14 

Cash  value  of  hospital  supplies,  clothing,  etc.,  received  by  the 

Philadelphia  Agency 306,088  01 

Cash  value  of  four  hundred  tons  of  coal,  received  by  the  Relief 

Committee  of  the  Women's  Pennsylvania  Branch 3,000  00 

Estimated  value  of  volunteer  labor  and  railroad  and  other  facili 
ties  rendered  free  of  charge 40,000  00 

Total  contributions  of  all  kinds  to  the  Philadelphia  Agency...      $1,565,377  15 

This  amount  has  been  distributed  as  follows : 
For  the  support  of  the  work  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  in 
Philadelphia  and  its  vicinity,  including  cash  remaining  in 

the  hands  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Philadelphia  Agency $303,554  63 

For  the  general  work  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 1,261,822  52 

$1,565,377  15 


FINANCIAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    COMMISSION.        489 

making  them  up  and  forwarding  them  to  the  "  Branch" 
with  which  it  corresponded.  The  aggregate  of  these 
comparatively  small  sums  must  be  enormous,  but  it 
cannot  be  ascertained.  The  Commission  has  twice 
scattered  over  the  country  thousands  of  Circulars  ad 
dressed  to  these  little  vital  centres  of  humanity  and 
patriotism,  entreating  each  to  report  how  much  it  had 
spent  on  its  own  local  work,  and  reminding  each  how 
desirable  it  was  that  a  complete  record  be  preserved 
of  the  People's  munificence  during  the  war.  But  not 
one  in  five  hundred  ever  responded  to  these  appeals. 
They  had  done  what  they  could  and  cared  not  whether 
their  work  were  remembered  or  forgotten.  The  very 
few  answers  these  Circulars  called  forth  proved  that 
full  returns  would  have  shown  an  aggregate  of  contri 
butions,  severally  small,  but  exceeding  all  the  cash 
receipts  of  the  Branch  and  the  Central  Treasury  toge 
ther.  Little  hamlets  in  the  Eastern  States  and  pioneer 
settlements  in  the  West,  the  very  names  of  which  were 
new  and  strange  had  Jaid  out  each  its  five  hundred 
dollars  or  its  one  or  two  thousand  dollars  in  the  work 
of  Army  Relief  over  and  above  like  sums  sent  to  the 
Central  Treasury  of  the  Commission  or  to  that  of  some 
one  of  its  Branches. 

Another  most  important  contribution  came  from  the 
Railroad,  Telegraph,  and  Express  Companies  of  the 
whole  country,  or  more  properly  of  that  part  Facilities  afford- 

J'  L    .    J  ed  by  Steam- 

of  the  country  which  was  not  involved  in  Re-  boat,  Express, 


bellion.  Many  of  these  gave  the  Commission 
their  services  gratuitously,  all  or  nearly  all  at  greatly 
reduced  rates.  They  thus  contributed  to  its  Treasury 
at  least  three-fourths  the  cost  of  transporting  its  bulky 


62 


490  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

stores  to  the  front,  and  of  forwarding  its  daily  (and 
often  hourly)  despatches  to  every  part  of  the  country. 
The  free  transportation  given  the  Commission  by  two 
Western  Railroads  was  estimated  in  December,  1863, 
to  have  saved  its  Treasury  two  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars.  Efforts  have  been  made  to  obtain  from  these 
several  companies  some  statement  of  their  contribu 
tions  to  the  National  cause  through  the  Commission. 
But  these  efforts  have  been  fruitless.  The  loyal  news 
papers  of  Northern  cities  either  gave  the  Commission 
free  use  of  their  columns,  or  sent  in  their  bills  for  ad 
vertising  with  a  credit  of  "  one -half  donation."  The 
Merchants  from  whom  the  Commission  bought  its 
manifold  supplies,  its  medicines,  stimulants,  blankets, 
flannels,  fresh  vegetables,  concentrated  food,  dealt  with 
it  liberally  and  seldom  sought  to  make  profit  of  the 
Army's  necessity.  These  indirect  contributions  were 
equivalent  to  millions  of  money  given  the  Central 
Treasury.  Every  "  Branch  Treasury"  and  every  "  Vil 
lage  Aid  Society"  bought,  no  doubt,  on  terms  as  favor 
able.  Public  charity,  therefore,  (using  that  word  in 
its  broadest  sense)  organized  and  administered  by  the 
Commission,  its  Branches  and  its  affiliated  societies, 
far  exceeded  in  money  value  the  mere  receipts  of  its 
Central  Treasury.  The  aggregate  of  those  receipts — 
of  contributions  in  money  to  its  Branches  and  to  their 
affiliated  Societies — of  contributions  of  money's  worth 
in  free  transportation,  etc.,  and  in  goods,  cannot  be 
less  than  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars. 

The  disbursements  of  the  Central  Treasury  were 
carefully  watched  and  guarded  against  misapplication. 
Of  course,  no  member  of  the  Commission  ever  asked 


FINANCIAL   HISTORY   OF   THE    COMMISSION.       491 

or  received  compensation,  though  there  were  scmpniona  care 

.          °  in  disbursing  the 

among  them  medical  men  in  lull  and  lucra- 


tive  practice  who  often  abandoned  that  practice  for 
weeks  together  to  devote  themselves  to  the  Commis 
sion's  work  in  Virginia  or  North  Carolina.  All  that 
members  of  the  Commission  ever  received  from  its 
Treasury  was  a  part*  of  their  expenses  when  attend 
ing  its  Sessions,  or  traveling  in  its  service. 

So  scrupulously  did  they  confine  the  disbursements 
of  their  Treasury  to  work  directly  aiding  the  Army, 
that  when  it  seemed  desirable  (January,  1862)  to  lay 
before  the  people  through  the  newspaper  press  of  New 
York  an  elaborate  report  submitted  to  the  War  De 
partment  by  their  General  Secretary,  (San.  Com.  Doc. 
No.  40,)  they  held  the  cost  of  its  publication  not  a 
legitimate  charge  on  the  Treasury  of  the  Commission. 
It  was  published,  however,  and  filled  six  or  eight  col 
umns  of  the  prominent  daily  papers  of  New  York  as 
an  advertisement  at  a  reduced  rate.  One  of  these 
papers,  however,  (the  N.  Y.  Times,)  afterwards  con 
tributed  to  the  Treasury  what  members  of  the  Com 
mission  had  paid  it. 

The  Commission  always  maintained  a  close  watch 
over  the  disbursements  of  its  Central  Treasury.  At 
every  session  its  first  business  was  its  Treasurer's  Re- 

*  The  vouchers  of  the  Treasurer's  office  show  that  these  expenses  were  never 
wholly  refunded.  "  Extras"  were  always  deducted  from  Hotel  Bills,  and  under 
the  name  of  Traveling  Expenses  only  Railroad  and  Steamboat  fares  were 
allowed.  The  many  other  little  items  that  swell  the  cost  of  travel  were  always 
excluded.  This  seems  hardly  worth  mentioning.  It  is  mentioned  only  be 
cause  a  newspaper  attack  on  the  Commission,  in  1861,  charged  its  members 
with  living  sumptuously  at  the  Hotels  of  Washington  on  money  contributed  for 
Army  relief.  The  slander  has  never  been  repeated  to  their  knowledge,  and  ia 
now  probably  forgotten,  but  may  as  well  be  thus  formally  contradicted. 


492  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


Methods  taken  port  and  the  appointment  of  a  committee 

to  insure  exact 
ness  and  fidelity,  to  examine  and  audit  it.     This  committee 

always  reported  in  writing  before  the  session  was 
closed.  The  Commission  sought  from  the  first  to  se 
cure  the  supervision  of  its  financial  affairs  by  intelli 
gent  and  influential  business  men.  When  it  invited 
the  aid  of  an  outside  "  Central  Financial  Committee" 
in  the  summer  of  1861,  it  requested  that  Committee 
to  keep  itself  informed  of  the  receipts  and  disburse 
ments  of  the  Commission  and  to  pass  on  its  accounts. 
A  sub-committee  (Messrs.  David  Hoadley  and  C.  R. 
Robert)  reported  in  writing  to  the  "  Central  Financial 
Committee,"  Nov.  27th,  1861,  that  they  had  examined 
and  audited  the  accounts  of  the  Commission  up  to  the 
20th  of  that  month,  and  had  found  them  accurate  and 
properly  vouched.  This  Committee  did  not  meet  (as 
already  stated)  after  the  spring  of  1862.  In  1864  the 
Commission  invited  the  supervision  of  another  Com 
mittee — an  "  Auxiliary  Finance  Committee" — Messrs. 
A.  A.  Low,  Jonathan  Sturges,  and  J.  J.  Astor,  Jr.) 
These  gentlemen  consented  to  serve.  They  advised 
the  Commission  from  time  to  time  as  to  the  best  and 
safest  investment  of  its  temporary  surplus,  went  care 
fully  through  all  its  books  and  vouchers  with  the  aid 
of  professional  accountants  and  certified  to  their  accu 
racy.  Their  last  report  appears  in  the  Appendix. 

This  financial  history  of  the  Commission  is  most 
imperfect.  It  ought  to  include  a  list  of  all  the  contri 
butions  received  by  its  Treasury,  with  notes  and  com 
mentaries  showing  how  much  patriotic  and  charitable 
self-denial  was  embodied  in  many  even  of  the  least  of 
them.  For  many  of  them  came  unasked  from  very 


FINANCIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  COMMISSION.         493 

poor  men,  poor  women  and  poor  children.  There  were 
many,  in  sums  of  a  dollar  or  two,  from  soldiers  in  the 
field  and  from  seamen  lying  in  front  of  rebel  batteries, 
though  all  Agents  of  the  Commission  were  charged  to 
discourage  contributions  from  men  in  the  National 
service.  Such  contributions  were  now  and  then  re 
ceived  under  the  name  of  "  payment"  for  clothing  or 
supplies.  These  were  always  made  the  subject  of  spe 
cial  inquiry  and  returned  to  the  contributor  whenever 
he  could  be  found  out.  There  should  also  be  a  de 
tailed  statement  of  the  multifarious  methods  through 
which  the  Commission's  funds  were  used,  not  only  to 
provide  battle-field  supplies,  anti- scorbutics  and  extra 
hospital  appliances,  but  also  to  dig  wells  for  posts  that 
had  no  sufficient  supply  of  water,  to  build  wholesome 
guard-houses  for  regiments  that  had  to  turn  soldiers 
under  arrest  into  a  filthy,  pestilential  "  bull  pen,"  to 
furnish  men  on  monotonous  duty  at  frontier  posts  with 
little  collections  of  books  called  "  libraries,"  to  buy 
seeds  and  tools  for  the  establishment  of  anti- scorbutic 
gardens  in  the  South-west,  and  in  short,  to  do  every 
thing  for  the  Army  which  could  be  done  by  the  people 
through  a  flexible  voluntary  organization,  but  could 
not  be  done  through  the  rigorous  and  inflexible  system 
by  which  military  officials  are  necessarily  governed.* 

*  See  Appendix  No.  6  for  two  statements :  one  showing  the  "  Receipts  and 
Disbursements  of  the  Commission  from  June  29,  1861  to  January,  1866 ;"  the 
other,  "  Monthly  Receipts  and  Balances  showing  Contributions  from  the  Pacific 
States,  Sanitary  Fairs,  and  all  other  Sources,  from  October  1,  1862  to  May  1, 
1865." 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

INTEKNAL  ORGANIZATION.— KELATIONS  WITH  THE  GOVERN 
MENT. 

No  history  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  would  be 
complete  without  some  general  view  of  the  machinery 
The  commission  Of  j£s  internal  organization.  In  reviewing 

combined    vari 
ous  methods  to  its  work,  the  great  variety  of  the  forms  of 

object5 "  *  relief  it  bestowed,  and  the  unity  of  plan  by 
which  they  were  so  combined  as  to  accomplish  the 
common  object  of  promoting  the  health  and  efficiency 
of  the  Army,  are  quite  as  remarkable  as  the  vast  ex 
tent  of  the  field  occupied  by  its  labors.  Two  great 
principles,  it  is  true,  underlaid  its  whole  work,  the 
value  of  the  preventive  system,  and  the  absolute 
necessity  of  harmonizing  its  relief  operations  with  the 
requirements  of  Army  discipline,  yet  the  methods  by 
which  these  principles  were  applied  in  practice  differed 
in  almost  every  department  of  its  labors.  Thus,  as  we 
have  seen,  its  Inspectors  had  a  distinct  province  as 
signed  to  them,  differing  wholly  from  that  in  charge  of 
the  Relief  Agents.  So  also  the  various  forms  of  re 
lief  which  it  administered — General,  Special  or  Battle 
field — had  each  its  peculiarities,  which  were  so  ar 
ranged,  that  the  efficiency  of  the  whole  service  depended 
upon  a  division  of  labor  thoroughly  organized,  and  con 
stantly  maintained.  To  harmonize  the  operations  of 

494 


INTERNAL   ORGANIZATION.  495 

all  the  different  modes  of  Army  Relief  which  we  have 
described,  in  such  a  way  that  they  should  mutually 
support  each  other  in  effecting  the  great  common 
object,  was  no  easy  task.  The  problem  was  not, 
how  to  bestow  relief  indiscriminately,  but  how  to 
give  full  scope  to  the  carefully  prepared  plans  of  a 
voluntary  organization  without,  at  the  same  time, 
unduly  interfering  with  the  ordinary  routine,  and 
necessary  discipline  of  an  army.  This  problem,  al 
ways  difficult  of  solution,  became  still  more  so  as  the 
war  went  on,  and  the  new  wants  of  the  Army  seemed 
to  call  for  closer  relations  between  its  life,  and  the 
popular  zeal  for  its  welfare.  The  great  principle 
which  the  Commission  adopted  in  all  its  operations 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  to  supplement,  and  not  to  sup 
plant  the  Government,  and  we  come  now  to  consider 
the  machinery  by  which  relief  was  afforded  in  strict 
accordance  with  this  principle. 

By  reference  to  the  Plan  of  organization,  it  will  be 
observed  that  it  was  designed  that  the  Commissioners 
appointed  by  the  President,  and  such  others  The  Board,  its 

**  m  composition  and 

as  they  might  associate  with  themselves,  functions, 
should  compose  the  Board  or  Legislative  council  of 
the  new  organization.  This  Board  was  never,  strictly 
speaking,  a  representative  body,  although  great  care 
was  taken  as  soon  as  the  full  scope  of  its  powers  was 
developed  in  practice,  to  give  it  a  thoroughly  national 
character  by  introducing  into  it  as  members,  gentle 
men  of  position  and  influence  residing  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  At  first,  when  its  operations 
seemed  likely  to  be  confined  to  a  special  field  of 
inquiry,  and  to  be  of  limited  duration,  the  number 


496  UNITED    STATES    SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

of  its  members  was  small,  and  was  made  up  chiefly  of 
those  who  had  urged  its  appointment  on  the  Govern 
ment.  These  gentlemen,  as  we  have  seen,  were  mostly 
residents  of  the  city  of  New  York,  but  shortly  after 
wards,  new  members  were  added,  so  that  during  the 
war  Massachusetts  was  represented  in  the  Board  by 
three  members,  Rhode  Island  by  one,  New  York  by 
six,  Pennsylvania  by  three,  Ohio  and  Illinois  by  two 
each,  Kentucky  by  one,  Washington  by  one,  and  the 
military  service  of  the  country  by  three.  These  gen 
tlemen  were  all  men  of  weight  and  influence  in  their 
respective  communities,  and  in  their  well-known  devo 
tion  to  the  National  cause,  and  in  their  perfect  freedom 
from  partisan  influences,  the  public  found  a  guarantee 
that  the  great  powers  entrusted  to  them  would  not  at 
least  be  abused  for  selfish  ends.  When  it  is  remem 
bered  that  they  all  differed  widely  from  each  other  in 
their  personal  characteristics,  in  their  previous  train 
ing  and  habits,  in  their  professions  in  life,  and  in  their 
opinions  on  many  important  subjects,  political  and 
religious,  and  that  they  were  forced  in  carrying  out 
their  plans,  at  least  at  the  outset,  to  grope  their  way 
very  much  in  the  dark,  the  harmony  of  their  delibera 
tions,  and  the  unity  of  plan  which  they  were  able  to 
preserve  during  the  whole  war  become  very  remark 
able.  It  is  certainly  most  creditable  to  their  earnest 
ness,  candor  and  thorough  appreciation  of  the  great 
objects  of  their  appointment,  that  so  many  independent 
thinkers  thus  brought  together  were  so  fully  inspired 
with  a  common  impulse  in  effecting  the  grand  object 
all  had  in  view. 

During  the  early  months  of  the  war,  and  until  the 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  497 

details  of  the  service  were  well  settled,  the  Board  met 
in  Washington  every  six  weeks,  but  after  Meetings  of  the 
the  first  year,  its  sessions  were  held  quar-  ^foatrhde'  b^"g* 
terly.  It  had  been  designed  originally,  as  transacted, 
will  be  observed  by  a  reference  to  the  Plan  of  Organi 
zation,  that  the  Commissioners  themselves  should  take 
an  active  part  in  the  Executive  service,  and  for  that 
purpose,  an  elaborate  machinery  of  committees  was 
prepared,  intended  to  facilitate  the  investigation  of 
various  subjects,  relating  to  the  condition  of  the  Army. 
These  subjects  were  embraced  in  two  divisions,  the 
one  concerning  Inquiry,  the  other,  Advice.  It  soon 
became  manifest  however,  that  this  arrangement  was 
unsuited  to  a  body  whose  sessions  were  not  permanent, 
and  whose  action  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  efficient, 
should  be  characterized  at  all  times  by  great  flexibility 
and  promptness.  It  was  found,  therefore,  that  in  prac 
tice  the  functions  of  the  Board  itself  would  be  confined 
to  a  general  supervision  of  the  work,  and  to  the  settle 
ment  of  a  policy  to  be  pursued,  while  it  would  become 
necessary  to  confide  all  the  details  of  the  Executive  ser 
vice  to  subordinate  Agents.  During  the  war  the  Board 
held  twenty-three  sessions,  most  of  them  in  Washing 
ton,  but  occasionally  elsewhere.  Many  of  its  members 
came  regularly  from  their  homes,  hundreds  of  miles  dis 
tant,  to  attend  these  meetings,  and  spent  usually  four  or 
five  days  in  an  earnest  discussion  of  the  reports  of  the 
Agents  of  the  Commission  concerning  its  operations  in 
the  different  Armies,  and  in  the  various  departments  of 
its  work.  These  meetings  were  always  full  of  interest  to 
those  who  had  at  heart  the  welfare  of  the  Army.  A 
carefully  prepared  report  of  the  operations  of  the  Com 
es 


498  UNITED   STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

mission  since  its  last  session  was  made  by  the  General 
Secretary  to  the  Board,  presenting  a  sketch  of  the 
actual  condition  of  the  work,  founded  upon  the  reports 
made  to  him  by  his  subordinate  Agents,  and  contain 
ing  suggestions  as  to  the  future  policy  of  the  Com 
mission.  Reports  from  the  Heads  of  the  various 
Bureaus,  Inspection,  Statistics,  Special  Relief,  the  War 
Claim  Agency,  the  Hospital  Directory,  were  also  read. 
The  Treasurer  always  presented  at  these  meetings,  a 
full  account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the 
Commission,  which  during  the  session  was  duly  vouched 
and  audited.  In  this  way,  the  Commission  gained  a 
full  knowledge  from  the  most  authentic  sources  of  the 
practical  working  of  its  plans,  and  was  able  to  modify 
them  when  they  seemed  defective,  or  to  abandon  them 
altogether,  if  they  appeared  to  conflict  in  any  way  with 
its  general  policy.  A  meeting  rarely  took  place  in  which 
some  practical  question  of  grave  importance  concern 
ing  the  operations  of  the  Commission  was  not  submit 
ted  to  the  consideration  of  the  Board,  and  decided  by 
it  after  the  most  pains-taking  and  exhaustive  discus 
sion.  It  was  soon  found,  however,  that  these  questions 
constantly  arose  during  the  recess  of  the  Board,  and 
that  they  required  a  prompt  solution.  Their  decision 
involved  too  grave  a  responsibility  particularly,  in  re 
gard  to  the  expenditure  of  money,  to  be  assumed  by 
any  one  of  its  officers,  and  it  became  therefore  neces 
sary  that  a  body  should  be  constituted,  which  should 
possess  in  the  intervals  of  its  sessions  all  the  authority 
of  the  Board,  and  be,  in  short  its  permanent  repre 
sentative. 

This  body  was  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Board, 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  499 

composed  first  of  five  and  afterwards  of  six  of  its  mem 
bers,*  upon  whom  was  conferred  by  its  vote  Appointment  of 
absolute  power  over  the  affairs  of  the  Com-  JJ*  Standing 

(jommitteei    Its 

mission  when  the  Board  was  not  in  session,  duties, 
accountable,  of  course,  to  it  for  the  due  exercise  of 
that  power.  When  the  Standing  Committee  was  ap 
pointed  the  larger  number  of  the  members  of  the  Com 
mission,  including  its  President  and  Treasurer,  were 
residents  of  New  York.  Its  meetings  were  held  in 
that  city  simply  because  that  was  the  most  convenient 
place.  These  meetings  took  place  daily  during  a  pe 
riod  of  nearly  four  years,  and  its  members  were  con 
stantly  engaged  in  arranging  plans  for  improving  the 
Commission's  service,  in  settling  the  many  embarrass 
ing  questions  which  arose  in  its  current  operations,  and 
applying  promptly  its  resources  to  meet  the  exigencies 
which  occurred  in  the  progress  of  the  war.  The  vast 
labor  and  responsibility  of  managing  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  Commission,  of  devising  methods  of 
raising  money  for  the  continued  prosecution  of  its 
work,  and  of  expending  it  wisely  and  economically  in 
the  purchase  of  supplies  needed  in  the  Army,  and  in 
supporting  the  general  work  of  the  Commission,  also 
devolved  upon  this  Committee.  It  was  kept  constantly 
informed  by  the  reports  of  its  Agents  of  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  needs  of  the  Army  in  the  different 
portions  of  the  field,  and  by  its  order,  supplies  vast  in 
amount,  and  of  a  kind  suited  to  the  peculiar  wants  of 
the  soldiers  at  the  time,  were  shipped  to  Morris  Island, 

*  The  original  members  of  this  Committee  were :  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  Dr. 
William  H.  Van  Buren,  Professor  Wolcott  Gibbs,  Mr.  George  T.  Strong,  and 
Dr.  C.  R.  Agnew.  In  October,  1864,  Mr.  Charles  J.  Stilte,  of  Philadelphia, 
was  added  to  it. 


500  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

to  Texas,  to  City  Point,  or  to  Washington,  as  the  case 
might  require.  The  position  which  this  Standing 
Committee  occupied  was,  as  will  be  readily  supposed, 
a  most  important  and  commanding  one.  It  was  the 
living  representative  of  the  Commission  with  the  pub 
lic  at  large.  Its  members  watched  with  the  keenest 
interest  not  only  over  all  the  details  of  the  Commis 
sion's  service,  but  also  over  the  varying  changes  of 
public  opinion  in  regard  to  its  different  operations. 
It  was  necessary,  of  course,  in  order  that  the  work 
should  be  maintained  in  its  fullest  activity,  that  the 
interest  of  the  people  in  it  should  be  constantly  stimu 
lated.  This  result  was  produced  by  the  unceasing 
labors  of  the  Standing  Committee.  When  the  funds 
in  the  Treasury  ran  low,  an  appeal  prepared  under  its 
direction,  showing  the  nature  and  practical  value  of 
its  labors,  never  failed  to  meet  a  proper  response  from 
the  patriotic  sympathy  of  the  country.  When  doubts 
seemed  to  prevail  in  certain  quarters  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  its  policy,  or  some  misrepresentation  of  its  acts 
which  was  likely  to  aifect  its  reputation,  became  cur 
rent,  an  explanation  of  its  real  position  was  at  once 
made  to  the  public,  and  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the 
constant  increase  of  its  resources,  never  failed  to  in 
spire  renewed  confidence.  The  labor  involved  in  such 
a  duty  was,  of  course,  immense.  It  was  shared  by 
every  member  of  the  Committee,  each  one  of  whom 
gave  up  unhesitatingly  during  the  war,  time  and 
strength  of  great  value  to  him  in  his  particular  call 
ing,  to  employ  it  in  this  disinterested  work  of  helping 
the  cause  of  his  country.  Each  one  of  its  members 
was  burdened  with  professional  cares  of  no  ordinary 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  501 

kind,  but  if  it  was  deemed  necessary,  as  it  often  was, 
that  some  one  of  them  should  leave  his  ordinary  avo 
cations  to  address  public  meetings  held  in  behalf  of 
the  Commission  in  distant  parts  of  the  country,  or  that 
others  should  visit  battle-fields  to  give  greater  efficiency 
to  the  Commission's  service,  or  that  others  should  super 
intend  the  distribution  of  vast  stores  among  famishing 
returned  prisoners,  no  one  hesitated  to  go,  however  great 
the  sacrifice.  While  the  only  reward  for  this  unceasing 
labor  was  the  gratifying  assurance  of  the  success  of  the 
plans  adopted  by  the  Commission  for  the  relief  of  the 
soldier,  that  labor  was  rendered  possible  by  the  un 
bounded  confidence  which  each  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  felt  in  the  purity  of  motive,  and  earnestness  of 
purpose  of  all  his  colleagues.  The  tie  which  originally 
bound  its  members  was  a  common  sympathy  for  a 
grand  object,  but  it  is  a  characteristic  feature  in  the 
history  of  the  Commission,  that  unlike  that  of  many 
associations  formed  to  carry  out  a  benevolent  design, 
this  sympathy  proved  a  solvent  sufficiently  strong  to 
remove  all  obstacles  to  success  due  to  the  peculiar  tem 
per  or  idiosyncrasies  of  the  individuals  composing  the 
organization.  The  members  of  the  Standing  Commit 
tee  were  men,  all  of  whom  were  accustomed  to  take 
strong,  decided,  and  independent  views  of  subjects  pre 
sented  for  their  consideration  and  action,  but  it  was 
found  that  their  peculiarities,  so  far  from  conflicting  in 
such  a  way  as  to  affect  unfavorably  the  general  design, 
mutually  balanced  and  corrected  each  other,  and  the 
result  was  in  the  end  a  harmony  of  purpose  to  which 
much  of  the  success  of  the  Commission's  operations 
must  be  attributed.  In  practice  it  was  soon  found 


502  UNITED   STATES   SAN  [TARY   COMMISSION. 

that  each  member  possessed  some  striking  qualifica 
tion  for  the  furtherance  of  the  general  design.  While 
one  seemed  more  peculiarly  fitted  to  keep  alive  inte 
rest  in  the  work  by  public  addresses,  and  by  means  of 
a  vast  correspondence,  and  another  was  distinguished  by 
that  zeal  and  executive  ability  which  led  him  to  super 
intend  the  Commission's  work  on  the  battle-field,  a 
third  (to  whose  established  reputation  in  the  commu 
nity  in  which  he  lived,  for  fidelity,  exactness  and  skill 
in  the  management  of  trusts  in  which  the  care  of  large 
sums  of  money  was  involved,  the  Commission  was 
under  an  obligation  which  it  is  not  easy  to  exaggerate,) 
watched  over  its  financial  concerns,  while  all  were  con 
spicuous  for  the  skill,  prudence,  and  devotion  which 
they  constantly  manifested  in  their  efforts  to  uphold 
the  Commission's  general  policy. 

The  chief  Executive  officer  of  the  Commission 
charged  with  the  details  of  its  service,  was  the  General 
Position  and  a*-  Secretary.  His  duties  have  been  already 

ties  of  the  Gen- 

rai  Secretary,  defined,  r ractically,  his  work  was  not  con 
fined  merely  to  seeing  that  the  orders  of  the  Board, 
the  Standing  Committee,  and  his  own  were  duly  car 
ried  out  by  his  Agents,  but  he  was  looked  to  also,  for 
suggestions  of  such  modification  and  enlargement  of 
its  plans  as  might  be  derived  from  an  experience 
founded  on  a  constant  observation  of  the  needs  of  the 
Army.  His  position  was  a  most  responsible  one,  not 
only  on  this  account,  but  also  because  he  was  brought 
into  daily  contact  with  high  officials  in  Washington, 
and  was  constantly  called  upon  to  defend  the  policy  of 
the  Commission,  and  to  explain  its  motives.  The 
novelty,  delicacy,  and  difficulty  of  this  task  have  been 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  503 

already  adverted  to,  and  it  was  the  peculiar  honor  of 
Mr.  Olmsted  that  he  was  able  to  accomplish  it  so  suc 
cessfully  during  the  first  two  years  of  the  Commis 
sion's  existence,  in  which  he  held  the  office  of  General 
Secretary.     Mr.  Olmsted  remained  in  the  service  of 
the   Commission   until   its   general   policy   had  been 
shaped  by  the  events  of  the  war,  and  its  system  of 
internal  organization  finally  adopted.     He  resigned  in 
September,  1863,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  J.  Foster 
Jenkins,  a  gentleman  who,  with  great  purity  of  perso 
nal  character,  and  indefatigable  zeal  in  the  Commis 
sion's  service,  combined  the  important  advantage  of  a 
thorough  training  for  the  special  duties  of  his  position, 
having  held  for  nearly  two  years  the  very  responsible 
office  of  Associate  Secretary  for  the  East.     Ill  health, 
resulting  from  too  close  an  application  to  the  duties  of 
his  office  forced  him  to  abandon  it  in  the  spring  of 
1865,  when   Mr.  John  S.  Blatchford,  who   had   pre 
viously  distinguished  himself  in  the  superintendence 
of  the  Relief  work  undertaken  by  the  Associates,  in 
Boston,  was  elected  his  successor.     Although  the  re 
turn  of  peace  shortly  afterwards  was,  of  course,  the 
signal  for  bringing  to  a  termination  the  active  work  of 
the  Commission  in  most  of  its  Departments,  it  will  be 
readily  seen  that  the  speedy  and  final  settlement  of 
the  complicated  affairs  of  so  vast  an  organization  was 
a  task  which  required  for  its  successful  execution  great 
devotion,  skill,  and  knowledge  of  business  concerns. 
That  task  fell  to  the  competent  hands  of  Mr.  Blatch 
ford,  and  under  his  direction  the  gradual  winding  up 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Commission  has  been  characterized 
by  the  same  orderly  and  systematic  methods  which 


504  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

marked  its  history,  during  the  period  of  its  most 
active  operations.  No  service  which  had  been  under 
taken  in  behalf  of  the  soldier,  which  peace  found  not 
fully  performed,  was  given  up  because  the  war  had 
ceased.  On  the  contrary,  as  has  been  seen,  some  of 
the  most  responsible  duties  which  the  Commission 
ever  assumed,  especially  in  the  collection  of  claims 
upon  the  Government,  were  increased  rather  than 
diminished  by  the  return  of  peace.  These  duties 
were  faithfully  and  honestly  performed  under  a  sys 
tem  carefully  organized,  and  conducted  under  the  in 
telligent  and  watchful  supervision  of  the  General  Sec 
retary. 

The  General  Secretary  was  charged  with  arranging 
plans  for  insuring  the  greatest  efficiency  of  the  Com 
mission  in  all  its  departments,  with  making  due  pre 
paration  for  campaigns  and  battle-fields,  with  the  task 
of  accumulating  proper  supplies  at  points  near  the 
Army  to  meet  its  current  wants,  and  a  reserve  stock, 
in  addition,  to  provide  against  emergencies,  with  de 
vising  the  best  means  of  getting  these  supplies  forward 
when  needed,  and  with  determining  the  proper  methods 
of  relieving  the  wounded,  and  of  transporting  them  to 
General  Hospitals.  Besides  this,  he  was  invested 
with  the  power  of  selecting  all  the  subordinate  officers 
of  the  Commission,  a  task  which,  when  the  anomalous 
nature  of  their  position  in  the  Army  is  considered, 
involved  a  very  serious  responsibility.  The  multifa 
rious  character  of  his  duties  will  be  better  understood 
when  it  is  stated,  that  he  was  not  only  expected  to 
enlighten  the  Board  as  to  the  measures  which  should 
engage  its  attention,  but  was  held  responsible  also  for 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  505 

the  due  performance  of  its  work  in  all  its  various  de 
partments,  and  for  the  character  of  the  Agents  he  em 
ployed.  In  the  organization  of  the  Commission's  service, 
there  were  two  Associate  Secretaries, one  for  the  East  and 
the  other  for  the  West,  each  charged  with  the  details  of 
the  work  in  his  own  department,  and  each  reporting 
directly  and  constantly  to  the  General  Secretary.  So 
also  there  was,  during  the  first  three  years  of  the  war, 
an  officer  called  the  Chief  of  Inspection,  whose  special 
province  it  was  to  superintend  the  work  of  inspecting 
camps  and  hospitals.  He  also  received  his  instruc 
tions  from  the  General  Secretary,  and  reported  to  him. 
The  Statistical  Bureau  also  was  under  his  direct  super 
vision.  The  Headquarters  of  the  Eastern  and  West 
ern  Departments  respectively,  in  charge  of  the  Asso 
ciate  Secretaries,  were  established  at  Washington  and 
Louisville.  The  offices  at  these  places  were  important 
centres  of  activity,  for  not  only  was  the  immense  busi 
ness  of  meeting  the  requisitions  for  supplies  made  by 
the  Inspectors  and  Relief  Agents  employed  in  the  dif 
ferent  Armies  in  the  field,  and  in  the  Hospitals,  trans 
acted  there,  but  connected  with  them  were  various 
Bureaus,  each  charged  with  a  specific  department  of 
the  Commission's  work.  Thus  both  at  Washington 
and  at  Louisville,  there  were  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Associate  Secretaries,  a  Supply  Bureau  charged 
with  the  movement  of  supplies,  and  a  Special  Relief 
Department  with  its  Hospital  Directory,  Pension 
Agency,  and  Homes  and  Lodges. 

The  number  of  Agents  on  the  Commission's  roster 
varied  at  different  periods  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  seven  hundred.  The  average  number  con- 

64 


506  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY    COMMISSION. 

Number  and  stantly  employed  was  about  three  hundred. 
stTorTinau  Jt  was  thought  important,  for  reasons 
Agents,  which  have  been  already  stated,  that  these 

Agents  should  receive  a  moderate  compensation.  How 
moderate  that  compensation  was  may  be  inferred,  when 
it  is  stated  that  they  received  on  an  average  two  dollars 
per  day  for  labor,  which  was,  at  least  half  of  it,  highly 
skilled,  sometimes  of  professional  eminence,  and  worth 
from  five  to  ten  times  that  amount.  Few  of  these 
men  could  be  had  for  the  money,  but  they  worked  for 
love,  and  patriotism,  and  were  content  with  a  bare  sup 
port.  The  Board,  (all  included,  twenty-one  in  num 
ber)  —  President,  Vice-president,  Treasurer,  medical 
committee,  standing  committee  —  gave  their  services  and 
their  time  gratuitously.  They  received  nothing.  Their 
traveling  expenses  alone  were  partly  refunded  them, 
and  these  were  trifling,  excepting  in  the  case  of  one  or 
two  who  went  frequently  on  tours  of  observation. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  machinery  of  the  inter 
nal  organization  of  the  Commission  was  arranged  with 


Adaptation  of  ^e  utmost  care  to  meet  the  exigencies  of 

means  to  the  end  . 

in  the  History  the  service.  Order,  regularity,  subordina- 
stn!16  "  tion,  and  discipline  were  maintained  by  a 
system  of  graded  responsibility,  in  which  each  Agent 
had  his  position  and  duties  exactly  defined.  The  his 
tory  of  the  war  proved  that  this  organization  was  per 
fectly  adapted  to  accomplish  the  practical  ends  pro 
posed  by  it.  This  result  was,  of  course,  much  aided 
by  the  character  of  the  Agents  in  whose  selection  and 
training  much  care  had  been  exercised.  They  formed, 
at  all  times,  a  most  faithful  and  intelligent  body  of  men, 
and  the  success  of  their  work  is  to  be  attributed,  in  no 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  507 

small  degree,  to  the  zeal  and  devotion  with  which 
they  were  inspired  by  the  nature  of  the  service  in 
which  they  were  engaged. 

It  will  be  seen,  we  trust,  on  a  review  of  the  work  of 
the  Commission,  as  we  have  presented  it  in  this  vo 
lume,  that  the  Sanitary  Commission  accomplished  sub 
stantially  the  object  it  proposed  by  the  means  which  it 
had  first  suggested,  as  proper  to  be  employed  for  such 
a  purpose.  The  great  end  of  its  appointment  was,  as 
we  have  seen  to  aid  the  Government.  If  The 
we  consider  some  of  the  evil  consequences 
which  might  have  resulted  to  the  country  influences. 
and  the  Army  had  the  great  power  intrusted  to  it 
been  abused  or  unwisely  administered,  the  impression 
of  the  purity  and  sincerity  of  the  motives  of  those  who 
conducted  it  will  be  strongly  confirmed.  The  j^reat 
objection  in  this  country  to  an  extra-governmental  or 
ganization  like  this_,  aside  from  the  danger  of  its  inter 
ference  with  the  ordinary  routine  of  Army  discipline, 
was  the  fear,  lest  with  its  immense  resources,  and  with 
the  powerful  support  of  a  large  body  of  influential  men 
throughout  the  country,  it  might  become  in  time^perhaps 
almost  unconsciously,  an  instrument  to  subserve  par 
tisan  ends.  The  power  which  it  wielded  during  the 
war  was  vast,  and  did  not  fail  to  attract  the  attention 
of  politicians.  Its  officers  might  easily  and  plausibly 
have  indicated  their  preference  for  this  or  that  Gene 
ral,  or  their  approval  or  disapproval  of  a  particular 
line  of  policy,  and  thus  have  become  a  cause  of  serious 
embarrassment  to  the  Government.  But  the  Commis 
sion  steadily  refrained  from  any  such  interference,  and 
we  shall  look  in  vain,  not  only  to  its  official  acts,  but 


508  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

to  the  most  confidential  reports  of  its  Agents  for  any 
expression  of  unkind  criticism,  (except  where  the  sani 
tary  interests  of  the  Army  seemed  to  require  it,}  upon 
any  act  of  the  Government  or  its  officers.  Its  Agents 
were  strictly  instructed  to  avoid  all  discussions  of  mili 
tary  or  political  questions  in  their  intercourse  with  the 
officers  of  the  Army,  and  they  were  forbidden  by  one 
of  its  rules  from  corresponding  with  newspapers.  The 
great  effort  of  the  Commission  at  all  times  was  to  iden 
tify  its  work  thoroughly  with  the  success  of  the  Na 
tional  cause  in  the  widest  sense.  Hence  it  appealed 
for  support  to  men  of  all  classes  and  opinions,  religious 
and  political,  and  the  wisdom  of  this  liberal  policy  is 
best  shown  by  the  fact  that  some  of  the  largest  contri 
butions  to  its  funds  came  from  those  who  did  not  belong 
to  the  party  in  power.  When  we  recall  the  fierce  op 
position  to  the  Government  during  the  war,  the  undis 
guised  hostility  of  some,  and  the  coldness  and  disaffec 
tion  of  many  more,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
enthusiastic  support  which  the  Commission  received 
from  all  classes,  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  was  not  only 
a  striking  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  a  desire 
to  aid  those  who  were  defending  our  threatened  na 
tionality  dissolved  mere  party  ties,  but  a  wonderful 
expression  also  of  confidence  in  the  purity  and  disinte 
restedness  of  the  motives  of  those  who  proposed  to 
relieve  them. 

While  the  success  of  its  methods  had  thus  inspired 
the  public  with  a  confidence  which  grew  as  the  war 
Eolations  with  went  on>  the  attitude  of  the  Government  to- 
the Government,  wards  it  was  not  so  satisfactory.  The  officers 
of  the  Commission  always  felt  that  it  was  no  mere  volun- 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  509 

tary  and  irresponsible  association  engaged  in  the  work 
of  Army  Relief,  and  at  liberty  to  adopt  any  system 
which  it  might  prefer  to  accomplish  that  purpose.  It 
was  regarded_by  them  as  a  body  specially  commis 
sioned  by  the  President,  and  invested  with  all  needful 
authority  to  do  a  particular  thing  in  a  particular  way, 
and  pledged  to  do  it  in  no  other  way.  In__these 
respects,  of  course,  it  differed  essentially  from  all  or 
ganizations  engaged  in  the  work  of  Army  Relief. 
Some  of  these  Associations  concerned  themselves  with 
subjects  of  great  importance  with  which  the  Sanitary 
Commission  never  interfered,  simply  because  these 
subjects  were  wholly  beyond  the  scope  of  the  authority 
bestowed  upon  it  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  Deriving,  then,  its  existence  and  all  its  power 
from  the  special  appointment  of  the  Government,  and 
working  wholly  in  aid  of  its  service,  it  was  natural  to 
expect  at  all  times  from  its  officers,  support,  encourage 
ment,  and  sympathy.  As  has  been  fully  shown  in  the 
narrative  of  its  work,  military  officers  of  high  rank 
who  had  had  the  best  opportunities  of  observing  its 
practical  usefulness  never  withheld  that  support  and 
sympathy.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  every  General 
in  command  of  an  Army  during  the  war,  has  placed 
on  record  an  expression  of  his  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  the  Commission's  services  to  his  troops,  while 
very  many  of  them  actively  aided  and  encouraged  its 
operations  by  all  the  means  at  their  disposal.  While 
such  were  its  relations  with  .  those  with  whom  its 
Agents  were  brought  into  daily  contact,  and  whose 
natural  prejudices  against  any  extra  governmental  in 
terference  in  the  Army  had  been  overcome  by  the 


510  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

evidence  of  its  value,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there 
was  a  want  of  cordial  cooperation  with  its  plans  on 
the  part  of  those  in  the  higher  regions  of  official 
authority,  which  was  on  every  account  much  to  be 
regretted.  The  attitude  of  the  War  Department  espe 
cially,  towards  it  was  never  that  of  open  hostility,  but 
rather  of  neglect  and  indifference.  It  was  never  re 
garded  by  that  Department  as  it  should  have  been,  as 
one  of  the  great  glories  of  the  war,  and  as  the  most 
comprehensive  and  successful  method  of  mitigating 
its  horrors  known  in  history.  While  the  evidence 
abounded  in  the  reports  of  its  own  officers  of  the 
vast  improvement  which  had  been  made  in  the  con 
dition  of  the  troops  through  its  instrumentality  di 
rect  and  indirect,  no  word  of  official  approval  of  a  work 
which  was  exciting  the  wonder,  admiration,  and  grati 
tude  of  all  humane  and  intelligent  observers  at  home 
and  abroad,  was  ever  vouchsafed  by  the  Government 
whose  Agent  it  was.  Although  this  want  of  apprecia 
tion  of  their  labors  existed  in  the  quarter  where  they 
had  the  right  to  look  most  confidently  for  aid  and  en 
couragement,  the  members  of  the  Commission  were 
not  disheartened.  Carefully  abstaining  from  asking 
favors  at  Headquarters,  it  was  found  that  practically 
their  work  suffered  little,  so  long  as  it  enjoyed,  as  it 
did  during  the  whole  war,  the  confidence  of  the  com 
manding  Generals,  and  the  cooperation  of  the  various 
staff  departments  of  the  Army. 

It  would  be  very  unprofitable  to  discuss  all  the 
Causes  of  a  want  causes  Avliich  might  be  assigned  for  this 
lSypTohfythe  want  of  cordiality  towards  the  Commission 
Government,  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  and  particu- 


INTERNAL   ORGANIZATION.  511 

larly  of  the  War  Department.  One  thing  is  certain, 
that  during  its  whole  existence  no  complaint  was  ever 
made  to  that  Department,  that  the  Commission  had 
exceeded  its  authority,  or  neglected  its  duties.  When 
it  is  remembered  how  intimate  and  delicate  its  rela 
tions  with  the  Army  officials  were,  how  large,  at  all 
times,  was  its  corps  of  Agents,  and  how  embarrassing 
and  difficult  their  position  must  often  have  been,  this 
fact  in  itself  is  no  small  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  its 
policy,  and  the  character  of  those  employed  to  give  it 
a  practical  shape.  The  simple,  natural,  explanation  of 
the  difficulty  lies  far  deeper,  however,  than  any  mere 
suspicion  that  the  Commission  was  not  doing  its  duty, 
or  even  than  that  personal  antipathy  which  was  said 
to  have  existed  between  certain  high  officials  of  the 
Government,  and  its  own,  and  which  has  sometimes 
been  assigned  as  its  chief  cause.  The  truth  is,  the 
continued  existence  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  a 
standing  criticism  upon  certain  of  the  methods  em 
ployed  by  the  Government,  and  a  protest  against  the 
insufficiency  of  others.  This  was  the  great  grievance. 
It  was  not  pleasant  for  officers  of  Government  to  be 
constantly  reminded,  as  they  were  by  appeals  made  to 
the  jublic  asking  for  means  of  relief  to  the  soldier, 
that  the  Army  was  suffering  from  the  insufficiency  of 
the  ordinary  methods,  or  their  defective  administra 
tion.  The  Government  theory  on  the  subject  was  that 
its  system  was  a  perfect  one,  that  occasionally  and 
from  accidental  causes,  its  methods  might  fail,  but  that 
it  had  both  the  power  and  the  will  to  supply  all  defi 
ciencies,  and  that  all  possible  needs  of  the  soldier  were 
provided  for  by  it  as  soon  as  recognized.  That  this 


512  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

was  the  ideal  standard  towards  which  the  officers  of 
the  Government  should  constantly  aspire  no  one 
doubted,  and  all  good  men,  and  especially  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  were  unceasing  in 
their  efforts  to  uphold  it.  But  the  error  consisted  in 
supposing  that  in  practice,  any  such  standard  could  be 
reached  by  our  Government,  or  had  been  reached  by 
any  Government  since  the  world  began.  We  have 
pointed  out  how  utterly  absurd  was  the  pretence  dur 
ing  the  war,  that  the  Army  needed  no  popularMnter- 
vention  for  its  relief.  The  officers  in  the  field  were  the 
first  to  be  convinced  of  this  necessity,  and  abandoned 
their  preconceived  notions  on  the  subject.  But  it  was 
natural,  that  those  at  the  head  of  affairs,  who  were 
occupied  with  devising  plans  for  the  general  improve 
ment  of  the  service,  should  often  be  irritated  when  they 
found  that  the  more  they  did,  the  louder  seemed  the 
cry  for  help.  It  is  not  wonderful,  then,  that  some  of 
these  officers  began  to  think,  particularly  after  the  reor 
ganization  of  the  Medical  Department,  that  the  Sani 
tary  Commission,  if  it  had  ever  had  a  mission  to  accom 
plish,  had  done  its  work,  and  that  there  was  no  need 
of  its  further  existence.  The  reasons  why  the  Commis 
sion  did  not  withdraw  from  the  field  have  been  already 
fully  given,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  them  here. 
It  was  always  desirous  to  retire  when  the  object  pro 
posed  by  it  at  the  outset  should  have  been  accom 
plished.  That  time  never  came  in  its  opinion,  while 
the  war  lasted,  and  it  remained^  therefore,  not  only  a 
representative  of  popular  sympathy  towards  the  Army, 
but  a  constant  stimulant  urging  the  Government  to 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  513 

improve  its  own  standard  of  the  comfort  and  efficiency 
of  the  troops. 

While  therefore,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  con 
tinued  existence  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  a 
natural  cause  of  irritation  to  certain  high  The  Commission 
officials.it  is  quite  clear  that  that  irritation  ahealthystim^- 

-1-  lant  to  uovern- 

on  the  whole  was  a  healthy  one.  It  did  ment, 
good  in  two  ways,  for  it  constantly  educated  public 
opinion  through  the  testimony  of  independent  ob 
servers  in  regard  to  the  real  needs  of  the  soldiers,  and 
that  opinion  not  satisfied,  with  merely  voluntary  efforts 
to  provide  for  those  needs,  was  all  powerful  in  forcing  the 
Government  so  to  modify  and  enlarge  its  system  that, 
the  evils  complained  of  might  be  remedied.  All  im 
provements  in  a  form  of  Government  such  as  ours,  it 
should  never  be  forgotten,  are  due  to  the  exercise  of  a 
free  spirit  of  popular  criticism,  and  however  mistaken 
that  spirit  may  be  in  some  of  its  suggestions,  and 
however  distasteful  may  be  the  changes  which  it  de 
mands  to  those  whose  habits  and  interests  are  identi 
fied  with  the  existing  systems,  it  is  none  the  less  the 
very  life  of  all  free  Governments.  This  principle 
which  has  always  been  recognized  in  our  history  is  of 
universal  application.  The  Sanitary  Commission  was 
its  representative  during  the  war  in  all  that  related  to 
an  enlightened  appreciation  of  the  wants  of  the  Army, 
and  as  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  the  impulse  which 
carried  us  successfully  through  the  struggle  arose  from 
the  influence  of  popular  enthusiasm  on  the  Govern 
ment,  so  there  can  be  as  little  doubt  that  any  credit 
due  the  country  for  an  improved  care  of  its  soldiers 
should  be  ascribed  to  the  irresistible  force  of  popular 


514          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

organizations  outside  of  the  Government  jigencies. 
If  we  examine  the  facts,  nothing  can  be  clearer  than 
that  the  great  reforms  in  the  Medical  service  of  the 
Army,  the  value  of  which  can  only  be  measured  by  the 
wants  of  suffering  men  in  future  wars,  would  never 
have  originated  in  official  quarters.  If  there  had  been 
no  enlightened  public  opinion  in  regard  to  the  real 
wants  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  and  no  Sanitary  Com 
mission  to  direct  it  aright,  we  should  probably  never 
have  heard  of  the  re-organization  of  the  Medical  De 
partment,  of  improved  Hospital  buildings  and  admin 
istration,  of  a  system  of  thorough  inspection,  of 
humane  methods  of  transporting  the  suffering,  or  of 
the  numerous  other  methods  of  mitigating  the  horrors 
of  war,  of  which  we  have  set  the  example  in  history. 

It  seemed  necessary  to  say  thus  much  in  explanation 
of  the  want  of  a  cordial  cooperation  and  active  sympa- 
Aid  afforded  by  ^hv  with  the  work  of  the  Commission  on 

all  officers  on  ac- 

tive  service-  the  part  of  some  of  the  highest  officials  of 


Government.  Practically,  however,  this 
indifference,  for  it  rarely  amounted  to  anything  more, 
interfered  very  little  with  its  plans.  In  the  Armies  en 
gaged  in  active  operations,  it  had,  as  has  been  stated, 
the  constant  aid  and  encouragement  of  the  Generals 
in  command,  while  every  facility  was  afforded  it  for 
the  prosecution  of  its  work  by  their  subordinate 
officers.  It  had  especially  a  warm  and  enlight 
ened  friend  in  the  Quartermaster-  General,  GENERAL 
MEIGS.  That  officer  had,  from  the  beginning  the 
fullest  appreciation  of  its  scope  and  usefulness,  and 
there  was  scarcely  a  suggestion  for  the  improvement 
of  the  service  made  to  him  during  the  war  the  adop- 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  515 

tion  of  which  required  his  official  sanction,  which  he 
hesitated  to  approve.  His  readiness  to  adopt  the  plans 
submitted  by  the  Commission  for  the  construction  of 
Hospitals,  and  his  willingness  to  aid  in  establishing 
the  new  system  of  railway  ambulances,  have  been 
already  referred  to.  But  his  kindly  intervention  did 
not  stop  here.  Means  for  the  transportation  of  its 
Agents  and  its  supplies  were  of  course  essential  to  the 
usefulness  of  the  Commission's  work  in  the  Army,  and 
this  was  a  matter  which,  within  the  lines  of  the  army 
itself,  and  upon  all  the  routes  leading  to  it,  was  ex 
clusively  under  the  control  of  the  Quartermaster's  De 
partment.  This  transportation  was  liberally  provided 
by  that  Department  in  aid  of  the  Commission's  work 
in  every  part  of  the  country.  Steamers  in  the  employ 
of  the  Government  were  placed  for  months  at  a  time 
in  its  charge,  so  that  its  stores  might  be  more  speedily 
placed  where  they  were  most  needed.  Wagons  and 
horses,  for  the  same  purpose,  were  loaned  wherever 
they  could  be  spared  from  the  Government  service, 
while  its  Agents  were  permitted  to  travel  as  freely  on 
all  the  military  routes  as  if  they  had  been  officers  of 
the  Army  itself.*  The  Commission  it  is  true,  thought 

*  The  Commission  at  its  Session  in  July  1865  adopted  following  resolution : 
"Resolved,  That  the  Sanitary  Commission  about  to  close  the  labors  which  it 
has  pursued  during  the  last  four  years  for  the  relief  of  the  National  forces, 
desires  to  record  the  sincere  expression  of  its  deep  gratitude  to  MAJOR-GENERAL 
MEIGS,  Quartermaster-General  U.  S.  A.,  not  only  for  his  aid  and  kindness  to 
the  Commission, but  for  the  invaluable  services  rendered  to  it  by  his  effective 
cooperation  during  the  whole  period  of  its  labors.  The  same  spirit  of  intelli 
gent  and  patriotic  cooperation  with  the  Commission,  inspired  by  him,  has  per 
vaded  constantly  his  whole  Department,  and  we  desire  to  tender  to  all  its 
officers  our  grateful  thanks  for  the  services  which  they  have  rendered  to  us,  and 
through  us  to  the  Armies  of  our  re-established  Republic." 


516  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

it  advisable  in  most  of  the  campaigns  to  provide  its 
own  independent  means  of  transportation,  but  this  was 
done,  not  because  any  indisposition  on  the  part  of  the 
Quartermaster's  Department  to  aid  it  was  observed. 
In  all  great  emergencies  during  the  war  the  need  of 
transportation  was  urgently  felt  in  all  the  Supply  De 
partments  of  the  Army,  and  in  such  cases  as  we  have 
seen,  according  to  the  military  theory,  the  relief  of  the 
suffering  was  necessarily  postponed  until  those  still 
able  to  fight  were  provided  with  food  and  ammunition. 
The  independent  means  of  transportation  possessed  by 
the  Sanitary  Commission  was  a  most  costly  appendage 
to  its  system,  but  it  proved  during  the  progress  of 
active  campaigns,  and  especially  on  battle-fields,  the 
right  arm  of  its  power. 

We  have  now  concluded  our  sketch  of  the  origin, 
purposes   and   work   of  this  great  organization,  and 


General  conciu-  endeavored  to  show  that  the  unexam- 

si(mi  pled  success  which  it  achieved  in  mitigating 

the  horrors  of  war  was  mainly  due  to  the  influence  of 
popular  ideas,  and  the  peculiar  forms  of  American 
civilization.  In  looking  back  upon  the  events  of  any 
great  war  those  who  are  as  near  to  the  scene  as  we  are 
to  that  of  the  rebellion,  find  little  upon  which  the  mind 
can  dwell  with  unmixed  satisfaction.  The  blunders 
of  the  Government,  the  mistakes  of  the  Generals,  the 
confusion  and  incapacity  which  are  so  often  conspicu 
ous  in  many  branches  of  the  service,  impress  us  with 
all  the  vividness  of  a  fresh  reality,  and  we  wonder  that 
success  was  achieved  at  all  in  the  face  of  so  many  for 
midable  obstacles.  But  however  opinions  may  differ 
in  regard  to  the  policy  of  the  Government,  or  the  stra- 


INTERNAL    ORGANIZATION.  517 

tegy  of  the  Generals  during  the  late  war,  the  organ 
ized  sympathy  and  care  of  the  American  people  for 
those  who  suffered  in  their  cause  stands  out  alone 
in  its  ever  fresh  beauty  from  the  dark  back-ground 
of  civil  strife,  and  must  always,  and  everywhere  call 
forth  the  homage  and  admiration  of  mankind.  It  is 
the  true  glory  of  our  age  and  our  country,  one  of 
the  most  shining  monuments  of  its  civilization. 
May  it  ever  prove  a  beacon  to  warn,  to  guide  and 
to  encourage  those  who,  in  future  ages,  and  other 
countries  may  be  afflicted  with  the  dire  calamity 
of  War ! 


LIST  OF  THE  MEMBERS 


OF   THE 


U.  S.  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 


APPOINTMENT. 

Eev.  H.  W.  BELLOWS,  D.  D New  York June  9,  1861. 

ALEXANDER  DALLAS  BACHE,  LL.D Washington,  D.  C 

WILLIAM  H.  VAN  BUREN,  M.  D New  York 

WOLCOTT  GIBBS,  M.D Cambridge,  Mass 

*KOBERT  C.  WOOD,  M.D.,  U.S.A 

fGEORGE   W.CULLUM,  U.S.A 

^ALEXANDER  E.  SHIRAS,  U.S.A 

SAMUEL  G.  HOWE,  M.D Boston,  Mass 

ELISHA  HARRIS,  M.D New  York June  12,  1861. 

CORNELIUS  E.  AGNEW,  M.  D New  York 

GEORGE  T.  STRONG,  Esq New  York June  13,  1861. 

JOHN  S.  NEWBERRY,  M.D Cleveland,  Ohio June  14,  1861. 

FREDERICK  LAW  OLMSTED,  Esq New  York June  20,  1861. 

Et.  Kev.  THOMAS  M.  CLARK Providence,  E.  I July  30,  1861. 

HORACE  BINNEY,  Jr.,  Esq Philadelphia,  Pa July  30,  1861. 

§Hon.  E.  W.  BURNETT Cincinnati,  Ohio Dec'r.  5,  1861. 

Hon.  MARK  SKINNER Chicago,  111 Dec'r.  7,  1861. 

gHon.  JOSEPH  HOLT Washington,  D.  C Jan.  23,  1863. 

Eev.  J.  H.  HEYWOOD .'..Louisville,  Ky Jan.  23,  1863. 

UFAIRMAN  EOGERS,  Esq Philadelphia,  Pa Feb'y  6,  1863. 

J.  HUNTINGTON  WOLCOTT,  Esq Boston,  Mass June  13,  1863. 

CHARLES  J.  STILLE,  Esq Philadelphia,  Pa Jan.  15,1864. 

EZRA  B.  McCAGG,  Esq Chicago,  111 Mar.    9,  1864. 

*  Resigned,  December,  1864. 

f  Resigned,  February,  1864. 

J  Resigned,  December  17, 1864. 

g  These  gentlemen  never  took  their  seats. 

||  Resigned,  1864. 

519 


APPENDIX. 


521 


No.  1. 

TO  THE  WOMfiN  OF  NEW  YORK,  AND  ESPECIALLY  TO  THOSE 
ALREADY  ENGAGED  IN  PREPARING  AGAINST  THE  TIME 
OF  WOUNDS  AND  SICKNESS  IN  THE  ARMY. 

THE  importance  of  systematizing  and  concentrating  the  sponta 
neous  and  earnest  efforts  now  making  by  the  women  of  New  York, 
for  the  supply  of  extra  medical  aid  to  our  Army  through  its  present 
campaign,  must  be  obvious  to  all  reflecting  persons.  Numerous 
societies,  working  without  concert,  organization,  or  head,  without 
any  direct  understanding  with  the  official  authorities,  without  any 
positive  instructions  as  to  the  immediate  or  future  wants  of  the 
Army,  are  liable  to  waste  their  enthusiasm  in  disproportionate  efforts, 
to  overlook  some  claims  and  overdo  others,  while  they  give  unneces 
sary  trouble  in  official  quarters,  by  the  variety  and  irregularity  of 
their  proffers  for  help  or  their  inquiries  for  guidance. 

As  no  existing  organization  has  a  right  to  claim  precedence  over 
any  other,  or  could  properly  assume  to  lead  in  this  noble  cause,  where 
all  desire  to  be  first,  it  is  proposed  by  the  undersigned,  members  of 
various  circles  now  actively  engaged  in  this  work,  that  the  wromen 
of  New  York  should  meet  in  the  Cooper  Institute,  on  Monday  next, 
at  eleven  o'clock,  A.  M.,  to  confer  together,  and  to  appoint  a  General 
Committee,  with  power  to  organize  the  benevolent  purposes  of  all 
into  a  common  movement. 

To  make  the  meeting  practical  and  effective,  it  seems  proper  here 
to  set  'forth  briefly  the  objects  that  should  be  kept  in  view.  The 
form  which  woman's  benevolence  has  already  taken,  and  is  likely  to 
take,  in  the  present  crisis,  is,  first,  the  contribution  of  labor,  skill, 
and  money  in  the  preparation  of  lint,  bandages,  and  other  stores,  in 
aid  of  the  wants  of  the  Medical  Staff;  second,  the  offer  of  personal 
service  as  nurses. 

In  regard  to  the  first,  it  is  important  to  obtain  and  disseminate 
exact  official  information  as  to  the  nature  and  variety  of  the  wants 
of  the  Army ;  to  give  proper  direction  and  proportion  to  the  labor 
expended,  so  as  to  avoid  superfluity  in  some  things  and  deficiency  in 

523 


524  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

others ;  and  to  this  end,  to  come  to  a  careful  and  thorough  under 
standing  with  the  official  head  of  the  Medical  Staff,  through  a  com 
mittee  having  this  department  in  hand.  To  this  committee  should 
be  assigned  the  duty  of  conferring  with  other  associations  in  other 
parts  of  the  country,  and  especially,  through  the  press,  to  keep  the 
women  of  the  loyal  States  everywhere  informed  how  their  efforts  may 
be  most  wisely  and  economically  employed,  and  their  contributions 
of  all  kinds  most  directly  concentrated  at  New  York,  and  put  at  the 
service  of  the  Medical  Staff.  A  central  dep6t  would,  of  course,  be 
the  first  thing  to  be  desired. 

In  regard  to  the  second  form  of  benevolence — the  offer  of  personal 
service  as  nurses — it  is  felt  that  the  public  mind  needs  much  enlight 
enment,  and  the  overflowing  zeal  and  sympathy  of  the  women  of  the 
nation,  a  careful  channel,  not  only  to  prevent  waste  of  time  and 
effort,  but  to  save  embarrassment  to  the  official  staff,  and  to  secure 
real  efficiency  in  the  service.  Should  our  unhappy  war  be  continued, 
the  Army  is  certain  to  want  the  services  of  extra  nurses,  not  merely 
on  account  of  the  casualties  of  the  field,  but  of  the  camp  diseases 
originating  in  the  exposure  of  the  soldiery  to  a  strange  climate  and 
to  unaccustomed  hardships.  The  result  of  all  the  experience  of  the 
Crimean  war  has  been  to  prove  the  total  uselessness  of  any  but  picked 
and  skilled  women  in  this  department  of  duty,  The  ardor  and  zeal 
of  all  other  women  should  therefore  be  concentrated  upon  finding, 
preparing,  and  sending  bands  of  women,  of  suitable  age,  constitu 
tion,  training,  and  temperament,  to  the  Army  at  such  points  and  at 
such  times  as  they  are  asked  for  by  the  Medical  Staff. 

A  central  organization  is  wanted,  therefore,  to  which  all  those  de 
siring  to  go  as  nurses  may  be  referred,  where  a  committee  of  exami 
ners,  partly  medical  and  partly  otherwise,  may  at  once  decide  upon 
the  fitness  of  the  candidate.  Those  accepted  should  then  at  once  be 
put  under  competent  instruction  and  discipline — (for  which  it  is  un 
derstood  a  thorough  school  will  be  opened  at  once  by  the  Medical 
Faculty  of  the  city)— and  as  occasion  offers,  the  best  prepared,  in 
successive  order,  be  sent,  under  proper  escort,  to  the  scene  of  war,  as 
they  are  wanted. 

It  is  felt  that  all  who  want  to  go,  and  are  fitted  to  go,  should  have 
in  their  turn  a  fair  chance  to  do  so,  and  are  not  unlikely  to  be  wanted 
sooner  or  later.  Of  these,  many  may  be  rich  and  many  poor.  Some 


APPENDIX.  525 

may  wish  to  go  at  their  own  charges,  and  others  will  require  to  be 
aided  as  to  their  expenses,  and  still  others,  for  the  loss  of  their  time. 
But  the  best  nurses  should  be  sent,  irrespective  of  these  distinctions — 
as  only  the  best  are  economical  on  any  terms. 

It  will  at  once  appear  that  without  a  central  organization,  with 
proper  authority,  there  can  be  no  efficiency,  system,  or  discipline  in 
this  important  matter  of  nurses — and  there  can  be  no  organization, 
to  which  a  cheerful  submission  will  be  paid,  except  it  originate  in  the 
common  will,  and  become  the  genuine  representative  of  all  the  women 
of  New  York,  and  of  all  the  existing  associations  having  this  kind 
of  aid  in  view. 

It  is  obvious  that  such  an  organization  will  require  generous  con 
tributions,  and  that  all  the  women  of  New  York  and  of  the  country, 
not  otherwise  lending  aid,  will  have  a  direct  opportunity  of  giving  sup 
port  to  the  object  so  near  their  hearts,  through  the  treasury  of  this 
common  organization. 

To  consider  this  matter  deliberately,  and  to  take  such  common' 
action  as  may  then  appear  wise,  we  earnestly  invite  the  women  of 
New  York,  and  the  pastors  of  the  churches,  with  such  medical  advi 
sers  as  may  be  specially  invited,  to  assemble  for  counsel  and  action, 
at  the  Cooper  Institute,  on  Monday  morning  next,  at  eleven  o'clock. 

Mrs.  Gen.  Dix,  Mrs.  H.  K.  Bogart, 

"  Hamilton  Fish,  "  Charles  Butler, 

"  Lewis  C.  Jones,  "  C.  E.  Lane, 

"  E.  Kobinson,  "  M.  D.  Swett, 

"  Wm.Kirkland,  "  R.  M.  Blatchford, 

"  Wm.  H.  Aspinwall,  "  S.  P.  Bridham, 

"  R.B.  Minturn,  '  A.W.Bradford, 

"  Jas.  B.  Johnson,  "  W.  H.  Lee, 

"  Judge  Roosevelt,  "  Parke  Godwin, 

"  A.  M.  Bininger,  "  H.J.Raymond, 

"  W.C.Bryant,  "  S.  L.  M.  Barlow, 

"  R.L.Stuart,  "  J.  Auchincloss, 

"  D.  D.  Field,  "  Walker, 

"  W.  B.  Astor,  Jr.,  "  Elisha  Fish, 

"  M.Grinnell,  "  C.  A.  Seward, 

"  G.  L.  Schuyler,  "  S.  Osgood, 


526 


UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 


Mrs.  Peter  Cooper, 

"  Thomas  Tileston, 

"  F.S.Wiley, 

"  K.  Grade, 

"  M.  Catlin, 

"  Chandler, 

"  R.  B.  Winthrop, 

"  G.  Stuyvesant, 

"  George  Curtis, 

"  A.R.Eno, 

"  W.F.Carey, 

"  A.  S.  Hewitt, 

"  Dr.  Peaslee, 

"  H.  B.  Smith, 

"  R.  Hitchcock, 

"  F.  F.  Marbury, 

"  F.  F.  B.  Morse, 

"  Judge  Daly, 

"  Charles  R.  Swords, 
Miss  Marquand, 
Mrs.  G.  Holbrooke, 

"  D.  Adams, 

"  H.  Webster, 

"  Moffat, 

"  H.W.  Bellows, 

"  Stuart  Brown, 

"  Ellis, 

"  J.D.Wolfe, 

"  Alonzo  Potter, 

"  R.  Campbell, 
NEW  YORK,  April  29,  1861. 


Mrs.  Griffin, 

"  L.  M.  Rutherford, 

"  S.  J.  Baker, 

"  H.  Baylis, 

"  John  Sherwood, 

"  S.H.Tyng, 

"  Capt.  Shumway, 

"  Edward  Bayard, 

"  James  I.  Jones, 

"  Judge  Betts, 

"  William  G.  Ward, 

"  H.  E.  Eaton, 

"  W.C.Evarts, 

"  Judge  Bonney, 

Miss  Minturn, 

Mrs.'M.  Trimble, 

"  S.B.  Collins, 

"  R.  H.  Bowne, 

"  B.  R.  Mcllvaine, 

"  IN".  Lawrence, 

"  John  Reid, 

"  C.  Newbold, 

"  J.  B.  Collins, 

"  J.  C.  Smith, 

"  Paul  Spofford, 

"  C.  W.  Field, 

"  P.  Townsend, 

"  L.  Baker, 

"  Charles  King. 


No.  2. 

AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 
To  THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR  : 

SIR: — The  undersigned,   representing    three   associations   of   the 
highest  respectability  in  the  city  of  New  York,  namely,  the  Women's 


APPENDIX.  527 

Central  Association  of  Relief  for  the  Sick  and  Wounded  of  the 
Army,  the  Advisory  Committee  of  the  Boards  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  of  the  Hospitals  of  New  York,  the  New  York  Medical 
Association  for  furnishing  Hospital  Supplies  in  aid  of  the  Army,  beg 
leave  to  address  the  Department  of  War  in  behalf  of  the  objects 
committed  to  them  as  a  mixed  delegation  with  due  credentials. 

These  three  associations,  being  engaged  at  home  in  a  common 
object,  are  acting  together  with  great  efficiency  and  harmony  to  con 
tribute  towards  the  comfort  and  security  of  our  troops,  by  methodiz 
ing  the  spontaneous  benevolence  of  the  city  and  State  of  New  York ; 
obtaining  information  from  the  public  authorities  of  the  best  methods 
of  aiding  your  Department  with  such  supplies  as  the  regulations  of 
the  Army  do  not  provide,  or  the  sudden  and  pressing  necessities  of 
the  time  do  not  permit  the  Department  to  furnish ;  and,  in  general, 
striving  to  play  into  the  hands  of  the  regular  authorities  in  ways  as 
efficient  and  as  little  embarrassing  as  extra-official  co-operation 
can  be. 

These  associations  would  not  trouble  the  War  Department  with 
any  call  on  its  notice,  if  they  were  not  persuaded  that  some  positive 
recognition  of  their  existence  and  efforts  was  essential  to  the  peace 
and  comfort  of  the  several  Bureaus  of  the  War  Department  itself. 
The  present  is  essentially  a  people's  war.  The  hearts  and  minds,  the 
bodies  and  souls,  of  the  whole  people  and  of  both  sexes  throughout 
the  loyal  States  are  in  it.  The  rush  of  volunteers  to  arms  is  equalled 
by  the  enthusiasm  and  zeal  of  the  women  of  the  nation,  and  the 
clerical  and  medical  professions  vie  with  each  other  in  their  ardor  to 
contribute  in  some  manner  to  the  success  of  our  noble  and  sacred 
cause.  The  War  Department  will  hereafter,  therefore,  inevitably 
experience,  in  all  its  bureaus,  the  incessant  and  irresistible  motions  of 
this  zeal,  in  the  offer  of  medical  aid,  the  applications  of  nurses,  and 
the  contribution  of  supplies.  Ought  not  this  noble  and  generous  en 
thusiasm  to  be  encouraged  and  utilized?  Would  not  the  Department 
win  a  still  higher  place  in  the  confidence  and  affections  of  the  good 
people  of  the  loyal  States,  and  find  itself  generally  strengthened  in 
its  efforts,  by  accepting  in  some  positive  manner  the  services  of  the 
associations  we  represent,  which  are  laboring  to  bring  into  system  and 
practical  shape  the  general  zeal  and  benevolent  activity  of  the  women 
of  the  land  in  behalf  of  the  Army?  And  would  not  a  great  econ- 


528  UNITED    STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

omy  of  time,  money,  and  effort  be  secured  by  fixing  and  regulating 
the  relations  of  the  Volunteer  Associations  to  the  War  Department, 
and  especially  to  the  Medical  Bureau? 

Convinced  by  inquiries  made  here  of  the  practical  difficulty  of  re 
conciling  the  aims  of  their  own  and  numerous  similar  associations  in 
other  cities  with  the  regular  workings  of  the  Commissariat  and  the 
Medical  Bureau,  and  yet  fully  persuaded  of  the  importance  to  the 
country  and  the  success  of  the  war,  of  bringing  such  an  arrangement 
about,  the  undersigned  respectfully  ask  that  a  mixed  Commission  of 
civilians  distinguished  for  their  philanthropic  experience  and  ac 
quaintance  with  sanitary  matters,  of  medical  men,  and  of  military 
officers,  be  appointed  by  the  Government,  who  shall  be  charged  with 
the  duty  of  investigating  the  best  means  of  methodizing  and  reducing 
to  practical  service  the  already  active  but  undirected  benevolence  of 
the  people  toward  the  Army;  who  shall  consider  the  general  subject 
of  the  prevention  of  sickness  and  suffering  among  the  troops,  and 
suggest  the  wisest  methods,  which  the  people  at  large  can  use  to 
manifest  their  good-will  towards  the  comfort,  security,  and  health  of 
the  Army. 

It  must  be  well  known  to  the  Department  of  War  that  several 
such  commissions  followed  the  Crimean  and  Indian  wars.  The  civi 
lization  and  humanity  of  the  age  and  of  the  American  people  de 
mand  that  such  a  commission  should  precede  our  second  war  of  inde 
pendence — more  sacred  than  the  first.  We  wish  to  prevent  the  evils 
that  England  and  France  could  only  investigate  and  deplore.  This 
war  ought  to  be  waged  in  a  spirit  of  the  highest  intelligence,  hu 
manity,  and  tenderness  for  the  health,  comfort,  and  safety  of  our 
brave  troops.  And  every  measure  of  the  Government  that  shows  its 
sense  of  this,  will  be  eminently  popular,  strengthen  its  hands  and 
redound  to  its  glory  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  undersigned  are  charged  with  several  specific  petitions,  addi 
tional  to  that  of  asking  for  a  Commission  for  the  purposes  above  de 
scribed,  although  they  all  would  fall  under  the  duties  of  that  Com 
mission. 

1.  They  ask  that  the  Secretary  of  War  will  order  some  new  rigor 
in  the  inspection  of  volunteer  troops,  as  they  are  persuaded  that 
under  the  present  State  regulations  throughout  the  country  a  great 
number  of  under-aged  and  unsuitable  persons  are  mustered,  who  are 


APPENDIX.  529 

likely  to  swell  the  bills  of  mortality  in  the  Army  to  a  fearful  per 
centage,  to  encumber  the  hospitals,  and  embarrass  the  columns. 
They  ask  either  for  an  order  of  reinspection  of  the  troops  already 
mustered,  or  a  summary  discharge  of  those  obviously  destined  to 
succumb  to  the  diseases  of  the  approaching  summer.  It  is  unneces 
sary  to  argue  the  importance  of  a  measure  so  plainly  required  by 
common  humanity  and  economy  of  life  and  money. 

2.  The  committee  are  convinced  by  the  testimony  of  the  Medical 
Bureau  itself,  and  the  evidence  of  the  most  distinguished  Army  offi 
cers,  including  the  Commander-in-Chief,  Adjutant-General  Thomas, 
and  the  acting  Surgeon-General,  that  the  cooking  of  the  volunteer 
and  new  regiments  in  general  is  destined  to  be  of  the  most  crude  and 
perilous  description,  and  that  no  preventive  measure  could  be  so 
effectual  in  preserving  health  and  keeping  off  disease,  as  an  order  of 
the  Department  requiring  a  skilled  cook  to  be  enlisted  in  each  com 
pany  of  the  regiments.     The  Woman's  Central  Association,  in  con 
nection  with  the  Medical  Boards,  are  prepared  to  assume  the  duty  of 
collecting,  registering,  and  instructing  a  body  of  cooks,  if  the  De 
partment  will  pass  such  an  order,  accompanying  it  with  the  allot 
ment  of  such  wages  as  are  equitable. 

3.  The  committee  represent  that  the  Woman's  Central  Association 

of  Relief  have  selected,  and  are  selecting,  out  of  several  hundred  V^-*^ 
candidates,  one  hundred  women,  suited  in  all  respects  to  become 
nurses  in  the  General  Hospitals  in  the  Army.  These  women  the  dis 
tinguished  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the  various  hospitals  in  New 
York  have  undertaken  to  educate  and  drill  in  a  most  thorough  and 
laborious  manner ;  and  the  Committee  ask  that  the  War  Department 
consent  to  receive,  on  wages,  these  nurses,  in  such  numbers  as  the 
exigencies  of  the  campaign  may  require.  It  is  not  proposed  that  the 
nurses  should  advance  to  the  seat  of  war,  until  directly  called  for  by 
the  Medical  Bureau  here,  or  that  the  Government  should  be  at  any 
expense  until  they  are  actually  in  service. 

4.  The  Committee  ask  that  the  Secretary  of  War  issue  an  order 

that  in  case  of  need  the  Medical  Bureau  may  call  to  the  aid  of  the         ^^ 
regular  medical  force  a  set  of  volunteer  dressers,  composed  of  young 
medical  men,  drilled  for  this  purpose  by  the  hospital  physicians  and 
surgeons  of  New  York,  giving  them  such  subsistence  and  such  recog- 
67 


530  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

nition  as  the  rules  of  the  service  may  allow  under  a  generous  con 
struction. 

It  is  believed  that  a  Commission  would  bring  these  and  other  mat 
ters  of  great  interest  and  importance  to  the  health  of  the  troops  into 
the  shape  of  easy  and  practical  adoption.  But  if  no  Commission  is 
appointed,  the  committee  pray  that  the  Secretary  will  order  the  sev 
eral  suggestions  made  to  be  carried  into  immediate  effect,  if  consistent 
with  the  laws  of  the  Department,  or  possible  without  the  action  of 
Congress. 

Feeling  themselves  directly  to  represent  large  and  important  consti 
tuencies,  and,  indirectly,  a  wide-spread  and  commanding  public  senti 
ment,  the  committee  would  most  respectfully  urge  the  immediate 
attention  of  the  Secretary  to  the  objects  of  their  prayer. 

Very  respectfully, 

HENKY  W.  BELLOWS,  D.D. 
W.  H.  VAN  BUREN. 
ELISHA  HARRIS,  M.  D. 
J.  HARSEN,  M.  D. 
WASHINGTON,  May  18,  1861. 


LETTER  FROM  THE  ACTING  SURGEON-GENERAL  TO  THE 
SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 

SURGEON-GENERAL'S  OFFICE,   j 
May  22,  1861.         ) 

Hon.  SIMON  CAMERON,  Secretary  of  War  : 

SIR  :  The  sudden  and  large  increase  of  the  Army,  more  especially 
of  the  Volunteer  force,  has  called  the  attention  of  this  office  to  the 
necessity  of  some  modifications  and  changes  in  the  system  of  organi 
zation,  as  connected  with  the  hygiene  and  comforts  of  the  soldiers ; 
more  particularly  in  relation  to  the  class  of  men  who,  actuated  by 
patriotism,  have  repaired  with  unexampled  promptness  to  the  defence 
of  the  institutions  and  laws  of  the  country. 

The  pressure  upon  the  Medical  Bureau  has  been  very  great  and 
urgent;  and  though  all  the  means  at  its  disposal  have  been  industri 
ously  used,  much  remains  to  be  accomplished  by  directing  the  intel- 


APPENDIX.  531 

gent  mind  of  the  country  to  practical  results  connected  with  the 
comforts  of  the  soldier  by  preventive  and  sanitary  means. 

The  Medical  Bureau  would,  in  my  judgment,  derive  important  and 
useful  aid  from  the  counsels  and  well-directed  efforts  of  an  intelli 
gent  and  scientific  commission,  to  be  styled  "A  Commission  of  In 
quiry  and  Advice  in  respect  of  the  Sanitary  Interests  of  the  United 
States  Forces,"  and  acting  in  co-operation  with  the  Bureau  in  elabo 
rating  and  applying  such  facts  as  might  be  elicited  from  the  experi 
ence  and  more  extended  observation  of  those  connected  with  armies ; 
with  reference  to  the  diet  and  hygiene  of  troops  and  the  organization 
of  military  hospitals,  etc. 

This  Commission  is  not  intended  to  interfere  with,  but  to  strengthen 
the  present  organization,  introducing  and  elaborating  such  improve 
ments  as  the  advanced  stage  of  Medical  Science  might  suggest ;  more 
particularly  as  regards  the  class  of  men  who,  in  this  war  of  sections, 
may  be  called  to  abandon  the  comforts  of  home,  and  be  subject  to 
the  privations  and  casualties  of  war. 

The  views  of  this  office  were  expressed  in  a  communication  of  May 
18,  1861,  in  a  crude  and  hasty  manner,  as  to  the  examination  of  re 
cruits,  the  proposed  organization  of  cooks,  nurses,  &c.,  to  which  I 
beg  leave  to  refer. 

The  selection  of  this  Board  is  of  the  greatest  importance. 
In  connection  with  those  gentlemen  who  originated  this  investiga 
tion,  with  many  others,  I  would  suggest  the  following  members,  not 
to  exceed  five,  to  convene  in  Washington,  who  should  have  power  to 
fill  vacancies  and  appoint  a  competent  Secretary. 

REVEREND  HENRY  W.  BELLOWS,  D.D. 
PROFESSOR  ALEXANDER  DALLAS  BACHE,  LL.D. 
PROFESSOR  WOLCOT  GIBBS,  M.D. 
JEFFRIES  WYMAN,  M.D. 
W.  H.  VAN  BUREN,  M.D. 

It  would  be  proper,  also,  to  associate  with  this  Board  an  officer  of 
the  Medical  Staff  of  the  Army,  to  be  selected  by  the  Secretary  of 
War,  familiar  with  the  organization  of  Military  Hospitals  and  the 
details  of  field  service. 

Respectfully  submitted : 

R.  C.  WOOD, 
Acting  Surgeon-  General. 


532          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


So.  3. 

ORDER   OF    THE   SECRETARY  OF   WAR,    APPROVED    BY   THE 
PRESIDENT,  APPOINTING  THE  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 

WAR  DEPARTMENT, 

Washington,  June  9,  1861. 

THE  Secretary  of  War  has  learned,  with  great  satisfaction,  that  at 
the  instance  and  in  pursuance  of  the  suggestion  of  the  Medical 
Bureau,  in  a  communication  to  this  office,  dated  May  22,  1861, 
Henry  W.  Bellows,  D.  D.,  Prof.  A.  D.  Bache,  LL.D.,  Prof.  Jeffries 
Wyman,  M.D.,  Prof.  Wolcott  Gibbs,M.D.,  W.  H.  Van  Buren,  M.D. 
Samnel  G.Howe,  M.D.,  R.  C.  Wood,  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  G.  W.  Cullum, 
U.  S.  A.,  Alexander  E.  Shiras,  U.  S.  A.,  have  mostly  consented,  in  con 
nection  with  such  others  as  they  may  choose  to  associate  with  them, 
to  act  as  "  A  Commission  of  Inquiry  and  Advice  in  respect  of  the 
Sanitary  Interests  of  the  United  States  Forces,"  and  without  re 
muneration  from  the  Government.  The  Secretary  has  submitted 
their  patriotic  proposal  to  the  consideration  of  the  President,  who 
directs  the  acceptance  of  the  services  thus  generously  offored. 

The  Commission,  in  connection  with  a  Surgeon  of  the  U.  S.  A.,  to 
be  designated  by  the  Secretary,  will  direct  its  inquiries  to  the  princi 
ples  and  practices  connected  with  the  inspection  of  recruits  and  en 
listed  men ;  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  volunteers ;  to  the  means  of 
preserving  and  restoring  the  health,  and  of  securing  the  general 
comfort  and  efficiency  of  troops ;  to  the  proper  provision  of  cooks, 
nurses,  and  hospitals ;  and  to  other  subjects  of  like  nature. 

The  Commission  will  frame  such  rules  and  regulations,  in  respect 
of  the  objects  and  modes  of  its  inquiry,  as  may  seem  best  adapted  to 
the  purpose  of  its  constitution,  which,  when  approved  by  the  Secre 
tary,  will  be  established  as  general  guides  of  its  investigations  and 
action. 

A  room  with  necessary  conveniences  will  be  provided  in  the  City 
of  Washington  for  the  use  of  the  Commission,  and  the  members  will 
meet  when  and  at  such  places  as  may  be  convenient  to  them  for  con- 


APPENDIX.  533 

sultation,  and  for  the  determination  of  such  questions  as  may  come 
properly  before  the  Commission. 

In  the  progress  of  its  inquiries,  the  Commission  will  correspond 
freely  with  the  Department  and  with  the  Medical  Bureau,  and  will 
communicate  to  each,  from  time  to  time,  such  observations  and  results 
as  it  may  deem  expedient  and  important. 

The  Commission  will  exist  until  the  Secretary  of  War  shall  other 
wise  direct,  unless  sooner  dissolved  by  its  own  action. 

SIMON  CAMERON-, 

Secretary  of  War. 
I  approve  the  above. 

A.  LINCOLN. 
June  13,  1861. 


No.   4. 

PLAN  OF  OEGANIZATION  FOR  "  THE  COMMISSION  OF  INQUIRY 
AND  ADVICE  IN  RESPECT  OF  THE  SANITARY  INTERESTS 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  FORCES." 

THE  Commission  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  branches,  one  of 
Inquiry,  the  other  of  Advice,  to  be  represented  by  two  principal  Com 
mittees,  into  which  the  Commission  should  divide. 

I.  INQUIRY. — This  branch  of  the  Commission  would  again  naturally 
subdivide  itself  into  three  stems,  inquiring  successively  in  respect  of 
the  condition  and  wants  of  the  troops : — 

1st.  What  must  be  the  condition  and  want  of  troops  gathered 
together  in  such  masses,  so  suddenly,  and  with  such  inexperience  ? 

2d.  What  is  their  condition? — a  question  to  be  settled  only  by 
direct  and  positive  observation  and  testimony. 

3d.  What  ought  to  be  their  condition,  and  how  would  Sanitary 
Science  bring  them  up  to  the  standard  of  the  highest  attainable 
security  and  efficiency  ? 

SUB-COMMITTEES    OF    BRANCH    OF    INQUIRY. 

A.  Under  the  first  Committee's  care  would  come  the  suggestion  of 


534  UNITED   STATES   SANITAKY    COMMISSION. 

such  immediate  aid,  and  such  obvious  recommendations  as  an  intel 
ligent  foresight  and  an  ordinary  acquaintance  with  received  princi 
ples  of  sanitary  science  would  enable  the  Board  at  once  to  urge  upon 
the  public  authorities. 

B.  The  second  Sub-Committee  would  have  in  charge,  directly  or 
through  agents,  the  actual  exploration  of  recruiting  posts,  transports, 
camps,  quarters,  tents,  forts,  hospitals ;  and  consultation  with  officers 
— Colonels,  Captains,  Surgeons,  and  Chaplains — at  their  posts,  to  col 
lect  from  them  needful  testimony  as  to  the  condition  and  wants  of  the 
troops. 

C.  The  Third  Sub-Committee  would  investigate,  theoretically  and 
practically,  all  questions  of  dirt,  cooking,  and  cooks ;  of  clothing, 
foot,   head,   and   body   gear ;    of  quarters,  tents,  booths,   huts ;   of 
hospitals,  field   service,   nurses    and    surgical   dresses;    of    climate 
and  its  effects,  malaria,  and  camp  and  hospital  diseases  and  conta 
gions  ;    of  ventilation,  natural  and  artificial ;  of  vaccination ;  anti 
scorbutics  ;  disinfectants ;  of  sinks,  drains,  camp  sites,  and  cleanli 
ness  in  general ;  of  best  methods  of  economizing  and  preparing  rations, 
or  changing  or  exchanging  them.     All  these  questions  to  be  treated 
from  the  highest  scientific  ground,  with  the  newest  light  of  physiology, 
chemistry,  and  medicine,  and  the  latest  teachings  of  experience  in 
the  great  continental  wars. 

Probably  these  Committees  of  Inquiry  could  convert  to  their  use, 
without  fee  or  reward,  all  our  medical  and  scientific  men  now  in  the 
army,  or  elsewhere,  especially  by  sending  an  efficient  agent  about 
among  the  regiments  to  establish  active  correspondence  with  surgeons, 
chaplains,  and  others,  as  well  as  by  a  public  advertisement  and  call 
for  such  help  and  information. 

II.  ADVICE. — This  branch  of  the  Commission  would  subdivide 
itself  into  three  stems,  represented  by  three  Sub-Committees.  The 
general  object  of  this  branch  would  be  to  get  the  opinions  and  con 
clusions  of  the  Commission  approved  by  the  Medical  Bureau,  ordered 
by  the  War  Department,  carried  out  by  the  officers  and  men,  and 
encouraged,  aided,  and  supported  by  the  benevolence  of  the  public 
at  large,  and  by  the  State  governments.  It  would  subdivide  itself 
naturally  into  three  parts. 

1.  A  Sub-Committee,  in  direct  relation  with  the  Government,  the 
Medical  Bureau,  and  the  War  Department ;  having  for  its  object  the 


APPENDIX.  535 

communication  01  the  counsels  of  the  Commission,  and  the  procuring 
of  their  approval  and  ordering  by  the  U.  S.  Government. 

2.  A  Sub-Committee  in  direct  relation  with  the  army  officers,  medi 
cal  men,  the  camps  and  hospitals,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  look 
after  the  actual  carrying  out  of  the  orders  of  the  War  Department 
and  the  Medical  Bureau,  and  make  sure,  by  inspection,  urgency,  and 
explanation,  by  influence,  and  all  proper  methods,  of  their  actual 
accomplishment. 

3.  A  Sub-Committee  in  direct  relation  with  the  State  governments, 
and  with  the  public  associations  of  benevolence.     First,  to  secure 
uniformity  of  plans,  and  then  proportion  and  harmony  of  action ; 
and  finally,  abundance  of  supplies  in  moneys  and  goods,  for  such 
extra  purposes  as  the  laws  do  not  and  cannot  provide  for. 

SUB-COMMITTEE   OF   BRANCH   OF   ADVICE. 

D.  The  Sub-Committee  in  direct  relation  with  the  Government, 
would  immediately  urge  the  most  obvious  measures,  favored  by  the 
Commission  on   the  War  Department,  and  secure  their  emphatic 
reiteration  of  orders  now  neglected.     It  would  establish  confidential 
relations  with   the  Medical   Bureau.     A  Secretary,  hereafter  to  be 
named,  would  be  the  head  and  hand  of  this  Sub-Committee — always 
near  the  Government,  and  always  urging  the  wishes  and  aims  of  the 
Commission  upon  its  attention. 

E.  This  Sub-Committee,  in  direct  relation  with  the  army  officers, 
medical  men,  the  camps,  forts,  and  hospitals,  would  have  it  for  its 
duty  to  explain  and  enforce  upon  inexperienced,  careless,  or  ignorant 
officials,  the  regulations  of  a  sanitary  kind  ordered  by  the  Depart 
ment  of  War  and  the  Medical  Bureau ;  of  complaining  to  the  De 
partment  of  disobedience,  sloth,  or  defect,  and  of  seeing  to  the  general 
carrying  out  of  the  objects  of  the  Commission  in  their  practical 
details. 

F.  This  Sub-Committee,  in  direct  relation  with  State  authorities 
and  benevolent  associations,  would  have  for  its  duties  to  look  after 
three  chief  objects. 

First :  How  far  the  difficulties  in  the  sanitary  condition  and  pros 
pects  of  the  troops  are  due  to  original  defects  in  the  laws  of  the 
States  or  the  inspection  usages,  or  in  the  manner  in  which  officers, 
military  or  medical,  have  been  appointed  in  the  several  States,  with 


536  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

a  view  to  the  adoption  of  a  general  system,  by  which  the  State  laws 
may  all  be  assimilated  to  the  United  States  regulations. 

This  could  probably  only  be  brought  about  by  calling  a  conven 
tion  of  delegates  from  the  several  loyal  States,  to  agree  upon 
some  uniform  system ;  or,  that  failing,  by  agreeing  upon  a  model 
State  arrangement,  and  sending  a  suitable  agent  to  the  Governors 
and  Legislatures,  with  a  prayer  for  harmonious  action  and  co 
operation. 

Second :  To  call  in  New  York  a  convention  of  delegates  from  all 
the  benevolent  associations  throughout  the  country,  to  agree  upon  a 
plan  of  common  action  in  respect  of  supplies,  depots,  and  methods 
of  feeding  the  extra  demands  of  the  Medical  Bureau  or  Commissa 
riat,  without  embarrassment  to  the  usual  machinery.  This,  too, 
might,  if  a  convention  were  deemed  impossible,  be  effected  by  send 
ing  about  an  agent  of  special  adaptation.  Thus  the  organizing,  me 
thodizing,  and  reducing  to  serviceableness  the  vague,  disproportioned, 
and  hap-hazard  benevolence  of  the  public,  might  be  successfully 
accomplished. 

Third :  To  look  after  the  pecuniary  ways  and  means  necessary  for 
accomplishing  the  various  objects  of  the  Commission,  through  solici 
tation  of  donations,  either  from  State  treasuries  or  private  benefi 
cence.  The  treasurer  might  be  at  the  head  of  this  Special  Com 
mittee. 


OFFICERS. 


If  these  general  suggestions  be  adopted,  the  officers  of  the  Commis 
sion  might  properly  be  a  President,  Vice-president,  Secretary,  and 
Treasurer. 

President.— His  duties  would  be  to  call  and  preside  over  all  meet 
ings  of  the  Commission,  and  give  unity,  method,  and  practical  suc 
cess  to  its  counsels. 

The  Vice-President  would  perform  the  President's  duties  in  his 
absence. 

The  Secretary  should  be  a  gentleman  of  special  competency,  charged 
with  the  chief  executive  duties  of  the  Commission,  in  constant  cor 
respondence  with  its  President ;  be  resident  at  Washington,  and  ad 
mitted  to  confidential  intimacy  with  the  Medical  Bureau  and  the 
War  Department.  Under  him  such  agents  as  could  safely  be  trusted 


APPENDIX.  537 

with  the  duties  of  inspection  and  advice  in  camps,  hospitals,  for 
tresses,  etc.,  should  work,  receiving  instructions  from,  and  reporting 
to  him.  He  would  be  immediately  in  connection  with  the  Commit 
tees  A  and  B  of  the  Branch  of  Inquiry,  and  of  Committees  D  and  E 
of  the  Branch  of  Advice. 

The  Treasurer  would  hold  and  disburse,  as  ordered  by  the  Commis 
sion,  the  funds  of  the  body.  These  funds  would  be  derived  from 
such  sources  as  the  Commission,  when  its  objects  were  known,  might 
find  open  or  make  available.  Donations,  voluntary  and  solicited; 
contributions  from  patriotic  and  benevolent  associations,  or  State 
treasuries,  would  be  the  natural  supply  of  the  cost  of  sustaining  a 
commission  whose  members  would  give  their  time,  experience,  and 
labor  to  a  cause  of  the  most  obvious  and  pressing  utility,  and  the 
most  radical  charity  and  wide  humanity ;  who,  while  unwilling  to 
depend  on  the  General  Government  for  even  their  incidental  expenses, 
could  not  perform  their  duties  without  some  moderate  sum  in  hand 
to  facilitate  their  movements. 

The  publication  of  the  final  report  of  the  Commission  could  be 
arranged  by  subscription  or  private  enterprise. 

As  the  scheme  of  this  Commission  may  appear  impracticable  from 
apprehended  jealousies,  either  on  the  part  of  the  Medical  Bureau  or 
the  War  Department,  it  may  be  proper  to  state,  that  the  Medical 
Bureau  itself  asked  for  the  appointment  of  the  Commission,  and  that 
no  ill-feeling  exists  or  will  exist  between  the  Commission  and  the 
War  Department,  or  the  Government.  The  Commission  grows  out 
of  no  charges  of  negligence  or  incompetency  in  the  War  Depart 
ment  or  the  Medical  Bureau.  The  sudden  increase  of  volunteer 
forces  has  thrown  unusual  duties  upon  them.  The  Commission  is 
chiefly  concerned  with  the  volunteers,  and  one  of  its  highest  ambi 
tions  is  to  bring  the  volunteers  up  to  the  regulars  in  respect  of  sani 
tary  regulations  and  customs.  To  aid  the  Medical  Bureau,  with 
out  displacing  it,  or  in  any  manner  infringing  upon  its  rights  and 
duties,  is  the  object  of  the  Commission.  The  embarrassments  antici 
pated  from  etiquette  or  official  jealousy,  have  all  been  overcome  in 
advance,  by  a  frank  and  cordial  understanding,  met  with  large  and 


538          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 

generous  feelings  by  the  Medical  Bureau  and  the  Department  of 
War. 

HENRY  W.  BELLOWS,  President. 

PROF.  A.  D.  BACHE,  Vice-President. 

ELISHA  HARRIS,  M.  D.,  Corresp.  Sect'y. 

GEORGE  W.  CULLUM,  U.  S.  Army. 

ALEXANDER  E.  SHIRAS,  U.  S.  Army. 

ROBERT  C.  WOOD,  M.  D.,  U.  S.  Army. 

WILLIAM  H.  VAN  BUREN,  M.  D. 

WOLCOTT  GIBBS,  M.  D. 

SAMUEL  G.  HOWE,  M.  D. 

CORNELIUS  R.  AGNEW,  M.  D. 

J.  S.  NEWBERRY,  M.  D. 

GEORGE  T.  STRONG,  Treasurer. 
WASHINGTON,  June  13, 1861. 


WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  June  13,  1861. 

I  hereby  approve  of  the  plan  of  organization  proposed  by  the  Sani 
tary  Commission,  as  above  given ;  and  all  persons  in  the  employ  of 
the  United  States  Government  are  directed  and  enjoined  to  respect 
and  further  the  inquiries  and  objects  of  this  Commission,  to  the 

utmost  of  their  ability. 

SIMON  CAMERON,  Secretary  of  War. 


APPENDIX. 


539 


No.   5. 


CONTRIBUTIONS  RECEIVED  FROM  CALIFORNIA. 
FROM  FEBRUARY  24,  1862,  to  MARCH  1,  1866. 

NOTE.— The  contributions  in  gold  have  all  been  reduced  in  this  Table  to  their  value  in  currency 
at  the  time  of  their  receipt. 


Feb'y.  24 
April    22 


July 

Sept. 
Oct. 

Nov. 


Dec. 


1863. 
Jan. 


March 


April 


May 
June 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Dolls.]  Ct*. 

1  AO      A  f\ 


2011 


7,222 
' 


*»**? 


20,000 

30,000 

500 

..     1,270 

377 

1,260 


Oakland  Patriotic  Fund,  Oakland 

Olympic  Club,  San  Francisco 

ladies'  Patriotic  Fund,  San  Francisco 

*atriotic  Fund,  San  Francisco,  by  Ira  B.  Rankin 

Proceeds  of  Treasury  Note  from  "Lock  Box  457,"  San  Francisco  P.O 

[I.  F.  Teschemacher,  Mayor  of  San  Francisco 

^ontributions  on  Election  Day,  San  Francisco 

Citizens  of  San  Francisco 

Do.  Do.  

Nevada  City,  California,  by  Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent 

Citizens  of  Marysville 

Ladies  of  Santa  Clara,  by  Mrs.  T.  Starr  King •••  — 

Relief  Society  of  County  of  San  Joaquin,  by  II.  B.  Underbill,  Sect'y,  Stockton 
Citizens  of  San  Francisco 

"        "   California 

"        "   Stockton 

"        "   Monterey 

"        "   California 

"  "  California 

Citizens  of  Marysville,  by  D.  C.  Benham,  San  Francisco 

Citizens  of  Sacramento,  by  Messrs.  Leiand,  Standford,  S.  Cross  and  II.  Miller. 

Citizens  of  California 

W.  B.  Brown,  San  Francisco 

Citizens  of  Auburn,  Placer  County 

Charles  Duncombe,  Hicksville j"A"X, 

Citizens  of  Sacramento,  by  Messrs.  Leiand  Stanford,  H.  Miller  and  S.  Cross.... 

Citizens  of  California 

Hiram  Perham,  Miner,  Klamath  County 

San  Joaquin  Relief  Society,  by  H.  B.  Underbill 

Hon.  Milton  S.  Latham 

San  Joaquin  Relief  Society,  by  H.  B.  Underbill 

Citizens  of  Santa  Clara  Township,  by  James  II.  Morgan 

Citizens  of  San  Francisco  and  interior  towns,  by  James  Otis,  Treasurer 

Thomas  McConnell.  Hicksville  P.  0.,  Sacramento  County 

Citizens  of  Yuba  County,  by  D.  C.  Benham,  Treasurer 

Citizens  of  Spanish  Ranch,' Plumae  County,  by  Thos.  McCormic.  Marysville.. 
Woodland  Soldiers'  Aid  Society,  Woodland,  Yolo  County,  Mrs.  C.  W.  Lewis,  > 

President,  Mrs.  F.  S.  Freeman,  Treasurer,  and  Mrs.  G.  D.  Fiske,  Sect'y...  j       1,222 

George  G.  Briggs,  Santa  Barbara  County 

Citizens  of  California,  by  James  Otis,  Treasurer 

Nicolaus,  Sutter  &  Co.,  Sacramento •••— 

Members  of  the  Public  School,  Placerville,  by  J.  A.  Bartlett,  President,) 

and  G.  L.  Fitch,  Secretary j 

Ladies'  Union  Association,  Santa  Clara,  by  Mrs.  B.  F.  Watkins 

C.  K.  Ercanbrack  and  C.  H.  Kelton,  Watsonville,  Santa  Cruz  County 

Citizens  of  San  Francisco,  by  .James  Otis,  Treasurer 

Lady  Washington    Society,  Aurora,   Moro   County,  by  Mrs.  S.  E.  Morse,} 
treasurer,  Mrs.  A.  Mack,  President,  Mrs.  L.  Green,  Vice-President,  and  V- 

Mrs.  L.  Hutchinson,  Secretary j 

Citizens  of  California,  by  James  Otis,  Treasurer 

Do.  Do.  Do.  Do        

Lady  Washington  Society,  Aurora.  Moro  County,  by  Mrs.  A.  Mack,  Presi 
dent,  and  Mrs.  S.  E.  Morse,  Treasurer 

Woodland  Soldiers'   Aid  Society,  Woodland,  Yolo  County,  by  Miss  C.  A. 

Templeton,  Sacramento 

E.  B.  Crocker,  Sacramento 

Napa  Soldiers'  Relief  Association,  Napa  City,  by  Mrs.  Thomas  Earl,  Presi- 1 

dent,  and  R.  K.  Wood,  Secretary j 

Citizens  of  California,  Contributions  on  Election  Day,  byJas.  Otis,  Treasurer. 
Contributions  on  Election  Day  in  Great  Mogul  District,  Amador  County,  I 

September  2d,  by  M.  Scott J 

Citizens  of  California,  by  James  Otis 

Amount  carried  forward $519,09 


19C 


i™ 

V2- 


1000( 


10,00( 
5,00 


10,00 


540 


UNITED    STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 


Contributions  received  from  California — Continued. 


-\aan 

n?~ 
Dec. 


1864. 
Jan. 


Feb. 
March 


June    |14 

3C 


Aug. 


Sept. 

Oct. 
Nov. 


Amount  brought  forward 519,094 

Citizens  of  California,  by  James  Otis 1  000 

T.  L.  Baker,  San  Francisco,  by  F.  A.  Foster,  New  York '  50 

Yreka,  (Curtis  H.  Pyle,  P.  M.) 10 

Citizens  of  California,  Font  fund  of  Rev.  T.  Starr  King,  San  Francisco'r'eT 

mitted  by  draft  through  W.  M.  Prichard,  Esq.,  New  York /         360 

Citizens  of  California,  by  James  Otis,  Treasurer ,  ..50000 

Yreka,  (Curtis  II.  Pyle,  P.  M.) 

Ladies  of  Napa  City,  by  Mrs.  A.  Y.  Easterly,  President;  proceeds  of  Christ- V 

mas  Eve  Festival '. f          700 

Ladies'  Soldiers'  Relief  Sewing  Society  of  Napa  City,  a  New  Year's  Offering  ) 

by  Mrs.  E.  G.  Easterly,  Secretary ...'}          iin 

James  McGlatchy,  Sacramento,  through  H.  Greeley,  New  York 

Yreka,  (Curtis  H.  Pyle,  P.M.)... ..! V.V.V.V.'.V.V.V.'.'." 

Citizens  of  California,  by  James  Otis,  Treasurer 5000( 

Union  Meeting  of  Presbyterians  and  Methodists,  Cumberland  Churches,) 

Stockton,  by  Rev.  R.  Happersett f  9 

Citizens  of  California,  by  James  Otis,  Treasurer 5096 

G.  G.  Briggs,  San  Francisco,  through  Fowler  and  Wells,  New  York '  5( 

Concert  and  Supper  by  Philharmonic  Society,  aided  by  Ladies  of  Sacra-) 

mento  City,  by  S.  B.  Leavett,  Secretary  and  Treasurer 4  811 

Citizens  of  California,  through  Macondray  &  Co 25/XK 

C.  P.  Lolor,  San  Francisco,  being  amount  paid  by  him  for  the  "Gridleyr 

Sanitary  Sack  of  Flour  sold  at  Auction,  May  28,  1864 f          150 

Sncramento  Valley  Sanitary  Association,  by  C.  Crocker,  Treasurer 41  35$ 

Citizens  of  California,  by  H.  P.  Coon,  Chairman .'    2o'oO( 

Do.  Do.        by.T "" 

Cabin  passengers  on  board  steamer  "  Moses  Taylor"  on  trip 

Cisco  to  New  York,  July  4,  1864,  by  R.  S.  Whigham,  Treasurer 7 

Cabin   Passengers  on  board  Steamer  "Uncle  Sam,"  July  4,  1864,  through  | 

E.  M.  Jenkins,  Purser f          7 

Citizens  of  Santa  Clara;  proceeds  of  Lecture  by  Dr.  Bellows 2,0 

Esmeralda  Sanitary  Association,  by  J.  B.  Saxton,  President,  (2  Silver  Bars  )      11  4 

Citizens  of  Vallego,  through  Dr.  W.  W.  Chapman 1*250 

Do.         Howland  Flat,  Pine  Grove  and  Potosi,  through  T.  A.  McFar-T 

land,  Treasurer ; 3816 

Citizens  of  Eureka,  North  Sierra  County,  by  J.  Andrews .".'.'...."I".'...      1*506 

Citizens  of  California,  through  Dr.  Bellows 

Children  of  Oroville,  through  George  C.Perkins 

Citizens  of  Santa  Clara,  balance  of  proceeds  of  Lecture 

First  Baptist  Church,  Petaluma.. 


, 
by  James  Otis,  Treasurer  ..........................................    52*633 

oard  Steamer  "  Mo<es  Taylor"  on  trip  from  San  Fran-  ) 


... 
Mr.  Rolofson,  San  Francisco,  one  day's  Photographing,  July  4,  1864  .............  '.         606 

Horace  Taber,  Gibsonville  .......................................................................  ' 


Santa  Clara  College,  by  Rev.  Father  Accolti 
Hobbs,  Gilmore  &  Co.,  San  Francisco 


........................................ 

Weaverville,  Trinity  County  ;  proceeds  of  Festival,  June  8,  1864""by"M'r8. 
H.  J.  Howe,  Chairman  ..................................................................... 


154 
302 

258 

19  57* 
John  Gale  (deceased)  San  Francisco,  bequest  in  his  Will! /through  Henry 

Edwards * 645 

Proceeds  of  Ball  and  Festival  by  Ladies'  Committee,  Placerviile'  through 

J.  Wilcox 

Ladies'  Sanitary  Committee,  Petaluma,  by  Mrs.  K.  Wilson,  President.'.'.'.'.'.".'.'.. .      5 160 
W.  S.  Day,  Auditor,  Downesville,  Sierra  County;  proceeds  of  sale  of  Jury") 

Fee r          ggg 

Citizens  of  Taylorsville,  Plurnas  County,  by  A.  T.  Blood,  President! *4th  July ) 

Committee 8  g24 

Citizens  of  Dutch  Flat,  by  W.  G.  Brown ..."!.!»""".*.*!""""". 

Citizens  of  Eureka,  Humboldt  County,  by  L.  C.  Schmiddt,  President  of 

Sanitary  Fund  Committee 

Proceeds  of  4th  .July,  Barbecue  of  Military  Companies  in  Napa  City,  through 

Mrs.  B.  G.  Easterly 


34 

1094 
1,032 
2665 

10,858 
'  40 
655 
11256 
California  Branch  by  R.'G.  Sneath.  Treasurer  .........................  ,  ".'   35'631 

Citizens  of  California,  by  Dr.  Bellows 

Do.  Do.  Do. 

Joseph  Britton,  San  Francisco  _ 

Citizens  of  Taylorville,  Plumas  County  ..............................................  .....".        4S9 

Citizens  of  Jackson,  Amador  County  .......................................................  ..          $4 


Ladies'  Sanitary  Commission  of  Amador  County,  by  Mrs.  T.  A.  Springer, 
Treasurer,  Jackson f.....  .... 

Proceeds  of  San  Joaquim  County  Sanitary  Fair,  through  6.6 ''Burton  T.  R 
Antony  and  others,  for  Committee,  Stockton 

Citizens  of  Fairfield,  Solano  County,  through  Miss  S.  R.  Pearson 

Citizens  of  Vallego,  Solano  County,  through  James  Hillman 

Citizens  of  California,  by  Dr.  Bellows.... 


;n 
16080 


Amount  carried  forward  .........  $957,927 


CtS, 

06 
00 
00 
00 

00 
00 

50 

00 
00 
00 
00 

50 
53 
00 

58 
00 

00 
50 
00 
75 

95 

00 
10 
18 
00 

45 
00 


18 


14 


00 


42 


APPENDIX. 


541 


Contributions  received  from  California — Continued. 


1SC4. 
Nov. 

Dec. 

1865. 
Jan. 

Feb. 
March 
April 

May 

July 

Sept. 
Nov. 
1866. 
Feb. 

H 

5 

I.1. 

19 

22 
9 
12 

24 

1 

16 

10 
14 
9 
J4 
s 
9 
18 
7 
10 
13 
14 
L5 
19 

ir. 
4 
6 

3 

Amount  brought  forward  

Dolls. 
957,927 
147 
504 
376 
40 
30 
275 
20 
1,500 
28,300 
531 
3,552 
36,800 
396 
33 
26.496 
3,263 
13 
2,700 
27,300 

360 
1,423 
6,465 
105 
35,820 
6,300 
4,508 
18,045 
14,772 
14,522 
3,643 
3,500 
2 
18,235 
1,200 
293 
14,425 
146 

279 

<  ?,-. 

SI 

•21 
51 
s:', 
29 
16 
88 
10 

00 

01) 

70 

77 

DO 

02 
58 
26 
02 
26 

00 
00 

1-2 
12 

00 

50 

DO 

oo 
00 
54 

70 
95 

7;', 

00 
00 
00 
00 
SO 

00 

50 

50 
31 

Do               Do                   Do                 Do 

Proceeds  of  Children's  Fair,  San  Francisco,  (Dec.  17th,)  by  Misses  Salliej 

Citizens  of  California  by  R  0  Sneath  Treasurer  

Do             Do                      Do                   Do       

Do             Do                       Do.                  Do  

Do            Do                      Do.                 Do  

Do            Do                      Do                  Do       

Citizens  of  California  by  R.  G.  Sneath,  Treasurer  

Do            Do                     Do.                 Do  

Do            Do                     Do                  Do 

Do            Do                     Do.                 Do  

J.  II.  Chapin,  San  Francisco,  ain't  of  advance  (in  coin)  refunded  in  currency. 
Sacramento  Tallcy  Branch,  by  John  McNeill,  Secretary  

Total  amount  $1,234,257 

CONTKIBUTIONS  KECEIVED  FKOM  NEVADA. 
FROM  FEBRUARY  2,  1863,  TO  JANUARY  1,  1866. 


1863. 
Feb. 
March 
May 


Aug. 
Sept. 

Oct. 
1864. 
Feb. 


May 
July 


Dolls. 

Citizens  of  Ormsby  County,  by  W.  Stewart,  Treasurer 4,000 

Citizens  of  Nevada,  8  Gold  and  Silver  Bars 29,921 

Ladies'  Social  Benevolent  Society,  Gold  Hill 1,328 

Silver  City  Benevolent  Society,  by  Melville  Kelsey,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Barrett,  Com 


mittee,  and  Mrs.  II.  J.  Currie,  President.. 


449 

Washoe  City,  by  P.  E.  Shannon '...        623 

Loyal  Citizens  of  Story  County,  by  A.  B.  Paul,  President,  Virginia,  (10  Gold 

17,360 


and  Silver  Bars) 

Citizens  of  Douglass  County,  by  Messrs.  J.  A.  Harvey,  Alexander  Brinck- 

man,  C.  M.  Tuttle  and  P.  Chamberlain,  M.  D.,  Committee 460 

408  Voters,  Silver  City,  at  Election  for  Adoption  of  State  Constitution,  by 

N.  P.  Sheldon,  President  and  C.  B.  Zabriskie,  Treasurer 2,236   50 

Proceeds  of  Ball,  Silver  City,  Christmas  Eve 404   17 

Citizens  of  Dayton,  by  C.  B.  Zabriskie,  Treasurer 176   70 

Proceeds  of  Ball,  by  Ladies  of  Carson  Valley,  through  Henry  Epstein 425   00 

Proceeds  of  Ball,  Douglass  County,  June  10th,  by  Henry  Epstein 1,380   35 

Contributions  at  the  Polls 485   76 

Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Carson  City 5,020j  00 

Amount  carried  forward $64,273,  23 


542  UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


Contributions  from  Nevada — Continued. 


1864. 
July 

80 

Amount  brought  forward 
Citizens  of  Austin,  by  E.  S.  Davis,  President  

Dolls. 
64,273 
9  544 

'•/,-. 
23 

|,-» 

Nov. 

0 

Employes  of  Gould  and  Currie  Mine,  Virginia  City,  (1  Silver  Bar.)  

10888 

71 

L'4 

Citi/eus  of  Story  County,  by  Dr.  Bellows  

11  055 

mi 

1865. 
Jan. 

25 

Citizens  of  Nevada,  Contributions  on  Election  Day 

3  751 

4- 

May 

10 

Citizens  of  Lynn  County,  by  N.  P.  Sheldon,  President  

.    ..         5'089 

-.1 

27 

Citizens  of  Washoe  County,  by  A.  B.  Paul  

1  700 

00 

July 

L'S 

Proceeds  of  Social  Parties,  Dayton,  Lyon  County,  through  E.  II.  Dean.. 

165 

00 

Oct. 

4 

Nevada  Branch,  by  A.  B.  Paul,  Treasurer  

00 

Total  amount 

107,642 

96 

CONTRIBUTIONS  RECEIVED  FROM  OREGON. 
FROM  OCTOBER  11,  1862,  TO  JANUARY  1,  1866. 


1862. 
Oct. 

Nov. 
Dec. 

1863. 
Jan. 
Feb. 
March 
June 
Aug. 

Sept. 

Nov. 
1864. 
Jan. 

Feb. 

March 

April 
May 

June 
July 

11 

i:i 

20 

7 
21  i 
4 

G 
If. 
•1-1 
10 

10 

2H 
1'.) 

17 

14 

7 

30 

6 
1 
4 

11 

19 

29 

;i 

19 

_>:; 

_'S 

'.) 
If, 

JO 

to 

Citizens  of  Portland,  by  Amory  Holbrook  

rti 
00 

00 

00 

III! 

00 
00 

00 
00 

00 

00 

28 

...3 

Dolls. 
1,662 
2,300 
1,875 

1,000 
3,575 
2,120 
30 
2,560 
2,913 
1,384 
1,965 
377 
1,300 

880 

770 
117 

908 

100 
342 
800 
122 

622 
55 
36 

800 

500 
500 
1,100 

136 
200 
435 

815 

Cls. 
65 
00 
00 

00 
00 
10 
00 
00 
40 
19 
00 
84 
00 

00 

00 

60 

00 

00 
63 
00 
00 

87 
00 
00 

28 

00 
00 
00 

00 
00 
00 

75 
3f 

Do.             Do.                      Do.              

Citizens  of  Oregon,  by  Amory  Holbrook  .-  

Grand  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  of  Oregon  for  the  Relief  ( 
of  Sick  and  Wounded  Masons  in  the  Army  f 

Citizens  of  Oregon,  by  Amory  Holbrook  

Do.             Do.                        Do. 

W.  L.  Adams,  Astoria  

Citizens  of  Oregon,  by  Amory  Holbrook  

Do.       Jacksonville,  by     Do. 

Do.       Oregon,  by               Do.             

Do.           Do.                      Do.             

Do.            Do.                       Do.             .    .. 

Ladies  of  Portland,  by  Amory  Holbrook  

Ladies'  Oregon  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  by  Amory  Holbrook                       705 

Citizens  of  Oregon,  by  Ainory  Holbrook  '.                                           175 

Canemah  Oregon  Ladies'  Aid  Society,  by  Amory  Holbrook.                   126 

Corvallis  Presbyterian  Church,  by  Amory  Holbrook  33 

Portland  Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  collected  in  part  at  Methodist  ) 
Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Congregational  and  Episcopal  Churches...  j    455 
Dallas  Congregational  Church  54 

Ames  Chapel  Neighborhood  lO1? 

Proceeds  of  Entertainment  by  Young  Men  of  Color  at  the  Dalles  "( 
through  Lewis  Tappan,  New  York  f 

Thanksgiving-Day  Collections  in  four  Churches  

Portland,  by  Amorv  Holbrook  800 

Citizens  of  Ames  Chapel  Neighborhood,  by  Ainory  Holbrook  70 
Congregation  of  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  Oregon  City,  by  Amory  Holbrook.     38 

Jacob  Kann,  Portland,  through  Wakeman,  Gookin  and  Dickinson,  1 
New  York  

Citizens  of  Salem,  by  .John  II.  Moores  

Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Salem,  by  John  II.  Moores  

Ladies'  Sanitary  Commission,  Astoria  

Ladies  of  Portland  and  Citizens  of  Oregon  City,  Vancouver's  and  ) 
Mihvaukio,  by  A.  Holbrook  . 

Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Oakgrove,  by  William  II.  Goodwin,  Treasurer  ... 
Mrs.  Flora  G.  Davenport,  Silverton,  Marion  County  

Ladies'  Aid  Society,  Portland,  by  A.  Holbrook  300 

Citizens  of  Oregon,  by  A.  Holbrook  500 

Do.          Do.                Do. 

Do.          Do.                Do 

Ladies'  Society  of  Portland,  through  Ladd  &  Tilton,  New  York.... 
Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Astoria,  by  Mrs.  Col.  .  I.  Taylor,  Mrs.) 
J.  Ross,  and  Mrs.  W.  II.  Gray.  Committee,  Mrs.  Mary  Ross,  Treas.  f 
Citizens  of  Lafayette,  by  E.  Cartwright  

Linn  County  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Albany,  by  John  Barrows    s'e-l' 
cretary,  and  J.  J.  Thornton,  President 

Amount  carried  -forward  

>32,304 

APPENDIX. 


543 


Contributions  received  from  Oregon — Continued. 


Dolls.  C. 

1804.  Amount  brought  forward 

July'    30   Ladies' Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Portland !>£<«  '* 

itizens  of  Oregon,  by  Amory  Holbrook 4WJ  "" 

Do.      Salem,  by  J.  II.  Moores ™  W 

Do.      Jackson  County,  by  C.  C.  Beekman 1W*  £> 

Do.      Scottsburg  Do 21000 

Do.      Josephine  County          Do.  

Do.      Oregon,  by  A.  Holbrook 126  47 

Linn  County  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  by  J.  Barrows,.. 1«J  - 

Aug.     29  Do.  Do.  Do.          Albany,  by  J.  Barrows 

Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Portland,  by  Mrs.  H.  Low 

Citizens  of  Ames  Chapel,  through  James  Davis w  Ul 

Citizens  of  Eugene  City,  by  D.  M.  Risdon,  President. 

Unknown  Town,  through  Mrs.  A.  C.  Gibbs,  Portland 61 ,92 

Citizens  of  Portland,  by  A.  Holbrook tvoo 

Citizens  of  Canemah ™  rx 

>eter  Paquet,  Oregon  City ,in  ™ 

Citizens  of  Lafayette,  Yam  Hill  County 17"  «" 

Do.      Albany,  Linn  County,  by  J.  Barrows 

Do.      Umatilla,  through  Mrs.  A.  C.  Gibbs .      1,023  00 

Oct.         7     V.  H.  Corbett,  Portland - —.»... 

Nov.     14    Miss  Olive  Geroam  (six  years  old)  and  her  Associates,  Canemah,! 

through  William  Barlow,  Oregon  City j  "  ™ 

Two  Gentlemen  of  Portland,  by  A.  Holbrook 

Citizens  of  Oregon  City *»  Xn 

Do.      Umatilla 30  00 

Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Albany,  by  J.  Barrows 333  42 

Do.          Do.  Milwaukie,  by  II.  Miller 25984 

*dies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Portland,  by  A.  Ilolbrook 353  22 

Citizens  of  Umatilla •• ••• 

Citizens  of  Benton  County  and  Maple  Grove,  contributed  at  the  June! 
Election  and  4th  July  Celebration,  thro'  J.  Quinn  Thorton,  Albany  J 

Citizens  of  Sandy  Precinct,  Maltnomah  County 

Citizens  of  Jackson  County,  through  C.  C.  Beekman oo-'on 

Do.      Josephine  County  Do.  i  AQ 

Eola  Sanitary  Society,  through  Lot  Livermore 

Citizens  of  Oregon  City,  proceeds  of  Lecture,  through  J.  L.  Barlow 

Sanitary  Aid  Society  of  Ames  Chapel,  raised  in  Camp  Ground 

Premium  on  Gold 

Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Portland 

Citizens  of  Portland,  by  A.  Holbrook 2,120  0 

Oregon  City  Lecture  Fund -  °* 

Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Portland 

Citizens  of  Portland 

Do.       Albany,  Linn  County 

Do.      Harrisburg 136  93 

Do.      Eugene  City 

Oregon  Branch,  by  Henry  Failing,  Treasurer M»»  °* 

Citizens  of  Oregon,  by        Do.  Do 10,11940 

Proceeds  of  Party,  by  Ladies  of  Canemah 70  00 

Dec.      2      Citizens  of  Oregon,  through  the  Washington  Office 

Do.          Do.      by  Henry  Failing,  Treasurer 354:1 

Do.          Do.  Do.  Do 1,959  ;6Q 

Oregon  Branch,  by  Do.  Do 2,06305 

Citizens  of  Astoria,  Clitsop  County,  by  Mrs.  Mary  Ross 

1865.  Do.        Marion  County,  by  J.  H.  Moores 

Jan.        7    Proceeds  of  Supper,  Ladies'  Sewing  Society  Presbyterian  Church.! 

Corvallis,  by  Mrs.  E.  M.  Clark,  Secretory J    15    00 

Mrs.  Margaret  Gray,  Corvallis,  by  Mrs.  E.  M.  Clark,  Secretary 00 

Master  Johnson  Porter  (aged  five  years)  by     Do.  Do 00         16000 

Oregon  Branch,  by  Henry  Failing,  Treasurer 1,053  82 

Feb.      1      Eugene  City,  by  Mrs.  C.  E.  Pengrie.  President 50415 

March         Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Astoria 2,110  32 

Oregon  Branch,  by  Henry  Failing,  Treasurer 456  86 

Oakgrove  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Eola,  Polk  County 47  JOO 

April    1      Citizens  of  Oregon,  by  Henry  Failing,  Treasurer 1,152  86 

May        1  T>o.          Do.      through  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co 52567 

Do.          Do.  Do.  274(00 

Do.       Salem,  by  John  H.  Moores 675JOO 

June  Do.         Do.  Do 400JOO 

July      27  Do.      Oregon,  by  Henry  Failing,  Treasurer 1,01003 

Do.      Salem,  by  John  II.  Moores 400  00 

Oregon  Branch,  by  Henry  Failing,  Treasurer 350  88 

Aug.     1  Do.  Do.  Do 138  05 

Nov.  Ladies'  Sanitary  Committee,  Portland,  by  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Frazer 35  75 

Total  Amount $79,406|94 


544 


UNITED   STATES   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


CONTRIBUTIONS  RECEIVED  FROM  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY. 
FROM  DECEMBER  4,  1862,  to  JANUARY  1,  1866. 


1862. 
Dec. 
1863. 
Jan. 

Feb. 

March 
April 
May 
Aug. 

Sept. 

Nov. 
1864. 
Jan. 
March 

May 
July 

Aug. 

Nov. 

Dec. 
1865. 
Jan. 
March 
May 

4 

8 
6 

19 

Hi 
Hi 
7 
81 

12 

17 
23 

7 

:; 
14 

:il 
a 

•jo 

:;o 
•20 

u 

2-2 

19 

9 

8 

Mr.  Francis  Keeper  of  Light  House  Shoal  Water  Bay                                 15 

(Ml 
()-, 

1)11 

00 
00 

OM 

,, 

20 

Dolls. 

20 
1.600 
3,142 
2,633 
4,520 
427 
357 
660 

470 
90 
40 
1,000 

530 
500 
45 
400 
210 

137 

687 
518 
284 
50 
800 

658 

19 
129 
50 
10 
452 
50 

40 
•214 
165 

'V,-. 

00 

00 
85 
60 
77 

Mil 

07 

70 

00 
DO 
00 
00 

00 
00 

MO 

DO 

00 
00 

00 
U6 

44 
00 

00 

.',0 

20 
97 

00 

M.I 
76 

MO 

no 

MM 
MM 

Citizens  of  Washington  Territory,  by  W.  W  Miller  ..  — 

Employes  of  Pope  and  Talbot's  Mills  Teehalet 

Citizens  of  Washington  Territory,  by  B.  V.  Kendall  

Do.                Do.                Do.       by  W.  W.  Miller  Treasurer 

Do.        Walla  Walla,  by  A.  Holbrook  

Do.         San  Juan  Islands,  by  A.  Francis,  U.  S.  Consul  
Do.         Levviston,  by  A.  L.  Downer,  Treasurer  

Ladies'   Sanitary  Aid   Society,  Vancouver,   by  Mrs.  G.  W.  Durgin,") 
through  A.  Holbrook  .                                 j 

Collection  at  Thanksgiving  Service,  Olympia,  by  Geq.  F.  Whitworth... 
Port  Anglos  Library  Association,  through  A.  Holbrook  

Citizens  of  Walla  Walla,  by  E.  E.  Kelly  

Ladies  of  Vancouver,  through  A.  Holbrook  

Ladies  of  Olympia,  proceeds  of  Sanitary  Party,  by  Joseph  Coushman... 
Thanksgiving  Collection  Olympia  by  George  F  Whitworth 

Ladies'  Association,  Vancouver,  by  A.  Holbrook  

Sanitary  Party  at  Clagnats,  Lewis  County,  by  J.  T.  Browning,  Treas... 
Collected  at  the  Polls,  Olympia  Precinct  June  6                                            83 

Collected  at  Clamy  and  Pray's  Saloon  on  Election  Day,  Olympia,  by  \ 

Citizens  of  Bruceport  Pacific  County  through  A   Holbrook                      203 

Ladies'  Aid  Society,  Vancouver  484 

Citizens  of  Auburn,  Bilker  County,  through  A.  Holbrook        — 

Do.       Eagle  Precinct,  Baker  County,  through  A.  Holbrook  

Do.        Bruce  and  Pacific  Counties,  by  A.  Holbrook  

Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Vancouver,  through  W.  A.  Troup 

Citizens  of  Olympia,  proceeds  of  4th  July  Celebration,  through  S.  i 
W.  Percival  j 

Citizens  of  Oak  Point,  through  Dr.  Bellows  10 

Children  at  Fort  Simcoe,           Do.                  9 

Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Vancouver  — 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  Hall,  Fort  Simcoe,  through  R.  H.  Hewell,  Olympia  
Ladies'  Sanitarv  Aid  Society,  through  Dr.  Bellows  

Citizens  of  Walla  Walla  

Do.      Washington  Territory,  through  the  Washington  Office  
Do       Olympia   

Ladies'  Sanitary  Aid  Society,  Vancouver  

Citizens  of  Olympia  

Total  amount  

...$20.9189-2 

CONTRIBUTIONS  RECEIVED  FROM  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 
FROM  JULY  9,  1862,  TO  JANUARY  1,  1866. 


1862. 
July 
1863. 
Jan. 
Feb. 

Sept. 
1864. 
Feb. 
March 
Aug. 

Oct. 

9 

17 

•2 

4 
8 

6 

1 
8 
29 

7 

Mrs.  Henry  Dimond  Honolulu 

Dolls. 
25 

i  It 

Ml) 

00 

(10 

00 

00 

00 
00 

00 

Mil 
00 

Citizens  of  Honolulu  

....  1  200 

American  Citizens  of  Honolulu,  by  Messrs.  Alexander  J.Cartwrieht,Charle 
R.  Bishop,  B.  F.  Snow  E  O  Hall  and  Sherman  Peck  Committee          ..  . 

.  j    1  ISO 

American  Citizens  of  Honlulu  by  ditto 

.  1  180 

500 

Do.            Do.                   Do                           Do                          ..         

....     270 

Do.            Do.                   Do                         Do                             .            .   . 

250 

Do.            Do.                    Do.                          Do.          through  II.  W.  B  

....  1  200 

J.  P.  Judd,  Honolulu                                          Do                     

50 

Citizens  of  Sandwich  Islands                             Do.         throujrh  H.  W.  B  

....  1.330 

Amount  carried  forward $7,185|  00 


APPENDIX. 


Contributions  received  from  Sandwich  Islands — Continued. 


545 


1864. 
Nov. 

Dec. 

1865. 
Jan. 
MarcL 
May 
June 

July 

Sept. 

Dec. 

14 

u 

aq 

s 

16 

•24 

I 
26 

9 
21 

Amount  brought  forward  
Proceeds  of  Sale  100  Barrels  of  Molasses  from  Capt.  Makee,  through! 

Tl 
14 

4S 

1(1 

22 

in 
4( 

_  i 

Dolls. 
7,185 

4,204 
660 

9 

450 
230 
723 

1,823 

492 
100 
88 

1 
145 

1,842 

Premium  on  Gold                                     895 

Proceeds  of  Sale  one  Barrel                                      122 

Proceeds  of  Sale  of  Keg  Tamarinds  from  Sandwich  Islands,  through  Y 

Dr.  J.  R.  Wood,  Honolulu,  through  McRuer  and  Merrill,  San  Francisco. 
Proceeds  of  Sale  100  Kegs  of  Sugar  from  Capt.  James  Makee,  Rose) 
Ranch,  East  Main  Sandwich  Islands,  through  Alex.  J.  Cartwright.  J  1,304 

Proceeds  of  Sale  25  Kegs  Sugar  from  Henry  Cornwell  Wikaper  Maui,  \  — 

Miss  Doratha  Isenberg  (three  years  old)  through  James  B.  Williams,") 
(in  silver  )                                                                 j          1 

Proceeds  of  Sale  100  Kegs  of  Sugar  contributed  by  Captain  James"] 
Makee,  sold  in  San  Francisco  by  Messrs.  Chas.  W.  Brooks  &  Co.,  ! 
Expenses  and  charges  amounting  to  $500  in  Gold,  not  charged,  j 
but  contributed  by  Messrs.  Brooks  &  Co  J 

Total  amount  

517,955 

CONTRIBUTIONS  RECEIVED  FKOM  IDAHO  TEEEITOEY,  COLO- 
KADO  TEKKITORY  AND  VANCOUVER'S  ISLAND. 


1863. 
Sept. 
1864. 
Feb. 

Nov. 

1864. 
March 

1862. 
Feb. 

1863. 
April 

1862. 
April. 

•j:; 

is 

11 

22 

21 

•_'! 

La 

2'J 

IDAHO  TERRITORY. 
Citizens  of  Florence,  by  Samuel  Wells,  G.  L.  Story,  J.  II.  Alvord,  and  J.  B. 

Dolls. 
2,110 

220 
172 

2,798 
$5,301 

&.<. 
46 

03 
65 

•11 

IL 

00 

60 

Tit 
41 

61 

on 

^\ 

Contributions  at  the  Polls  on  Election  Day,  October  31,  1863,  at  Lewiston, 

Contributions  at  the  Polls  on  Election  Day,  October  31,  1863,  at  Pierce  City, 

Citizens  of  Warren's  Diggings,  through  Dr.  Bellows,  Silver,  Assayer's  chip- 

COLORADO  TERRITORY. 
Contributions  of  Citizens  of  Denver,  Feb.  22,  1864,  by  Hon.  Simon  Whitele 

VANCOUVER'S  ISLAND. 

American  Citizens,  Victoria,  proceeds  of  six  months'  interest  on  Treasury' 
Note  for  $1  000 

y      1,025 

\          30 

988 

Citizens  of  Victoria  by  A  Francis  United  States  Consul            

870 

American  Citizens  Victoria  by  Rev.  T.  Starr  King  

1,895 
300 

...  $2,195 

Total  amount  

546          UNITED   STATES   SANITARY    COMMISSION. 

No.  6. 

RECEIPTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 
FROM  JUNE  27,  1861,  to  JANUARY  1,  1866. 


Doll 


-.  .    . 

Maine 24  93 

' 


New  Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts  ... 


3,52 

1C    rq 

Massachusetts,  through  Boston  Branch 106?39 

Rhode  Island ..I.."."."."......  ll'82 


Connecticut 


8,41 


New  England,  (States  not  designated)  ...................  6*68 


York 


•••••••• 

New  Jersey.  ........................................................................        20,74 

Pennsylvania  ..................................................................  12  73 

Delaware  .....j  .......................................  .  .............................  '77 

Maryland  .....  ..................................................  ....................         591 

* 


District  of  Columbia 


1212 
' 


Virginia JQ 

9h1i.° 16,04' 

Indiana 1  26^ 

Illinois 4*34 

Michigan '59 

Wisconsin 91 

Iowa..., 


.................... 

Minnesota ..."."........!  6' 

Kentucky ".'.....         6,60* 

Louisiana 3  177 

North  Carolina 


California...  i  OQQ  077 

-.T             j                                                                                                                             ..............................  J.j«OOjJ7<  * 

Nevada  ...................................................  107  642 

''"'''"'" 


.......  ........  , 

Washington  Territory  ...........................  20918 


Colorado 


i  025 
' 


Nebraska  \~  'Jo 

Vancouver's  Island 2,195 

Sandwich  Islands 17*95^ 

f9 


eru 


2,002 


.................................................................................  , 

Buenos  Ayres  ..........  18419 

/x,i_         J  ...............................................        10>**r 


Cuba 23 

Costa  Rica g4 

Canada .........................."  441 

New  Foundland ....'.............." 150 

England V.V.V.V.Y.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.  V.V.'.V.V.  11,145 

Scotland 74 

France ........"...\..7...\\\.\V!...".\\\\\"..'"  3,550 

European  Branch,  (Paris) 13,372 

London  Branch 36?790 

Belgium .......V..V.V....V.V.V.V.1.V.V."  V.V.V.V.  'lOO 

Germany 343 

Italy '.'.!!.".".'.!'..".'."!.".'."!.".'.'..'!.".'"  50 

Turkey 50 


Ctt 
4:; 
s-i 
17 
no 
60 
96 
56 
75 
71 
25 
77 
00 
95 
53 
60 
50 
15 
50 
;o 

00 
50 
85 
05 
25 
)0 
Jl 
96 
94 
92 
Jl 

10 
)0 

I 


Amount  carried  forward $2,055,604133 


APPENDIX. 


547 


DISBURSEMENTS  OF  THE  U.   S.   SANITAEY  COMMISSION. 
FROM  JUNE  27,   1861  to  JANUARY  1,   1866. 


EXPENSES. 


Eent         14,55825 

Advertising'!!! 15,072  06 

Stationery  and  Office  Printing 41,42678 

Postage 15,823 

Mce  Freight............ 40^22683 

Office  Expenses 59,343 

Travelling  Expenses  of  Office  Employes 6,517 

Office  Salaries. 136,69021 

Stable 20,39648 

Travelling  Expenses  of  Members  of  the  Commission.  8,609  3( 

PUBLICATIONS. 

Documents,  Monographs,  &c 55,830  57 

Sanitary  Bulletin 30,53407 

Sanitary  Reporter 9,781  01 

96,145  oo 

Statistical  Bureau 45,326  17 

General  Inspection 129,509  97 

Special  Inspection 20,146  85 

Hospital  Directory 54,797  9 

RELIEF  DEPARTMENT. 

Special  Relief 147,630  281 

Relief  Corps 212,73465 

Homes  and  Lodges 237,11657 

Pension  Bureau  and  Claim  Agencies 11 5,736  j  87 j 

Hospital  Transports 44,419  28 

"        Cars 9,3731 

I    771,773  96 
SUPPLY  DEPARTMENT. 

Purchase  of  Supplies 1,939,31041 

Distribution  of  Supplies 252,188  33 

Transportation  of  Supplies 272,223  ! 

Receiving  Store  House 23,863  48 

Distributing  Store  House 14,681  12 

Canvassing 65,719 

Canvassing  in  Pacific  States 22,467  76 

Women's  Central  Association  of  Relief,  N.  Y 79,500  67 

Cincinnati  Branch 15,000|00 

Cleveland        "         10,000|00 

Columbus         "         5,OOOjOO 

Chicago           "        10,00000 

Lousville         "        10,00000 

Philadelphia  "        314,31608 

3,034,271106 

Amount  carried  forward 4,514,124  90 


Dolls.  Cts. 


548 


APPENDIX. 


Receipts  of  the  U.  S.  Sanitary  Commission — Continued. 


Amount  brought  forward 
China  

Dolls. 

2,066,883 

2,989 
5,000 
1,738 
199 

2,736,868 
3,952 

42,849 

2,351 
197 

72,298 

90 
00 
30 
00 

84 
26 

49 

so 
00 
07 

50,000  00 
12,000  00 
3,934  32 
305,513  83 
1,28743 
80,000  00 
,184,487:72 
1,43273 
16,192  27 
80000 
3,087  04 
40,234  54 
2,500  00 
,035,398  96 

Japan  

U.S.  Army  

U.  S.  Navy  

Boston  and  New  England  Fair  

Yonkers,  N.  Y.                             

Flushing,  Long  Island                 

Brooklyn  and  Long  Island 

Schuyler  County,  N.  Y.                

Albany,  N.  Y.     '                           

Metropolitan,  N.  Y.                      1 

Warwick,  Orange  Co.  N.  Y.         

Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 

Hornellsville,  N.  Y. 

South  Adams,  Mass. 

Maryland  State                             (Baltimore.) 

Wheeling,  Va.                          <      . 

Great  Central  Fair,  Philadelphia  1 

Unknown  Sources  

37,771 
1,923 
3,154 

2,160 
191 

71 
83 
15 

00 

80 

Interest  on  U.  S.  Certificates  

"     Deposits  in  Nassau  Bank,  Brooklyn  
"       "    4th  National  Bank,  N.  Y  

Keceipts  from  Advertisements  in  Sanitary  Bulletin... 
Subscriptions  for         " 

Contributions  to  Medical  Fund  

Proceeds  of  Sales  of  Furniture,  Surplus  Stores,  &c... 

Total  amount 84,924,048; 


"NEW  YORK,  April  26,  1866. 

"  We  hereby  certify  that  we  employed  Mr.  James  M.  Halsey  to  examine  the 
accounts  of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  that  the  letter  on  the  other  side  is  a 
true  copy  of  his  report  to  us  of  his  completing  his  examination. 

J.  J.  ASTOR.        ] 

Signed,  A.  A.  Low.          V  Committee. 

JONA.  STURGES.  J 


APPENDIX. 


549 


Disbursements  of  the  U.  S.  Sanitary  Commission — Continued. 


SUPPLY  DEPARTMENT  —  Continued. 
Amount  brought  forwar 
N.  E.  Women's  Auxiliary  Association  of  Boston  
Contributions  to  Aid  Societies          

d 

84 
00 

HI 

41 
•2:\ 

DoUs. 

4  514  124 

f  t» 

90 

84 

64 
52 

MI 

16,927 
20,500 
500 

38,677 
3,670 

37,927 
42,347 

88,901 

940  747 

HISTORICAL  BUREAU. 

Expenses,  (including  purchase  of  House  and  Lot  21 
West  12th  Street  N  Y)       

MISCELLANEOUS. 
\Vestern  Sanitary  Commission   (St  Louis)     

50,000 
23,086 
3,470 
12,344 

224,845 
2,248 
2,877 
5,818 
2,300 
686 
6 
438 
1,524 

00 
02 
92 

58 

_J 

7<> 
14 
9!) 
47 
00 
9!) 
7-") 
99 
(ID 

Metropolitan  Fair  N  Y                                   

CASH. 
Geo  T  Strong  Treasurer           

New  York  Office                          

\Vashington     <l                    

Louisville        "                

Newberne        "     (N  C  )                               

New  Orleans   "                                  

Canvassing  and  Supplv  Office  Philadelphia 

Dr.  M.  M.  Marsh,  Supt.  "  Lincoln  Home,"  N.  Y  
J.  L.  Alcooke,  Supt.  "  Friends'  Home,"  Penn  Yan,  N.Y. 

Total  amount $4,924,048  99 

"NEW  YORK,  March     ,  1866. 


J.  J.  ASTOR,  Esq.      1 

Jona.  STURGES,  Esq.  [•  Committee. 

A.  A.  Low,  Esq.        J 


"  DEAR  SIRS  : — Herewith  I  hand  you  my  report  of  the  accounts  of  U.  S. 
Sanitary  Commission  from  its  organization  to  January  1st,  1866. 

"  I  have  examined  the  Books  and  Vouchers,  also  securities  and  Cash  Balance 
from  the  Bank  books,  and  find  the  same  correct  in  every  particular. 

"  The  item  of  Transportation  of  Supplies  includes  the  cost  of  Freight  on 
sundries  given  to  the  Commission,  the  estimated  value  of  which  was  about 
fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  (say  $15,000,000.)  Kespectfully, 

(Signed)  JAS.  M.  HALSEY. 


550          UNITED   STATES   SANITAEY   COMMISSION. 


]STo.  6.  Continued. 

STATEMENT  OF  MONTHLY  RECEIPTS  AND  BALANCES  SHOW 
ING  CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  THE  PACIFIC  STATES,  SANI 
TARY  FAIRS  AND  ALL  OTHER  SOURCES. 

FROM  OCTOBER  1,  1862  to  MAY  1,  1865. 


Dates. 

Receipts. 

Balances. 

Sanitary         Other 

States. 

Fairs. 

Source 

-. 

October,             1862. 
November, 
December,             " 
January,            1863. 
February,              " 
March, 
April, 

213,964 
103,406 
168,154 
49,981 
21,091 
65,676 
2,630 

•2: 

is 
14 

tit 
,-,( 
t;: 
;;s 

Nov.  1st. 
Dec.  1st. 
Jan.  1st. 
Feb.  1st. 
March  1st. 
April  1st. 
May  1st. 

186,811 
225,442 
307,333 
321,581 
271,822 
294,475 
267,963 

•_' 
4( 

SI 

7^ 

;,; 

77 

206,837 
102,558 
104,630 
47,790 
15,069 
61,194 
1,451 

•; 

v 

52 

4 
!. 

:.l 
its 

7,126  58 
847  30 
63,523,62 
2,191,22 
6,022  '35 
4,482  1  12 
1  178  JO 

ay> 

15,491 

61 

June  1st. 

247,140  28 

11,109 

<).- 

4381 

,•  - 

June, 

29,172 

:;i 

July  1st. 

221.669  38 

11,800 

HI 

17'372 

"1 

July, 
August, 
September,           " 
October,                " 
November,            " 
December,            " 
January,            1864. 
February,              " 
March, 
April,                     " 
May,                       « 
June,                      " 
July, 
August, 
September,            " 

28,628 
8,811 
31,019 
27,934 
12,423 
16,908 
121,361 
65,690 
351,201 
94,966 
1,091,606 
35.003 
210,434 
126,931 
67.634 

.,4 
28 

•11 

Ml 

:;4 
76 

:;s 
85 

r,4 
o-_ 
;,( 
•l-l 
::i 
i«> 
o:; 

Aug.  1st. 
Sept.  1st. 
Oct.  1st. 
Nov.  1st. 
Dec.  1st. 
Jan.  1st. 
Feb.  1st. 
March  1st. 
April  1st. 
May  1st. 
June  1st. 
July  1st. 
Aug.  1st. 
Sept.  1st. 
Oct.  1st. 

158,277 
126,581 
129,130 
126,873 
89,450 
41,725 
122,171 
148,278 
419,362 
393,961 
1,222,669 
1,005,396 
886,402 
752,592 
614,946 

nt 

| 

:;: 

SI 
L's 

.-,.' 
in 
53 
.-,4 
:;:; 
t;s 
in 
50 
1^ 

1,973 
26,344 
24,235 
1,117 
1,060 
52,753 
53.650 
3,722 
500 
58,234 
25,286 
165,448 
63,604 
59,518 

7f 

;s 

M 
:i 

1! 
II 

VS 
'if 
>i 
-1 
10 
-4 
_',s 
HI 

50,000 

316,810 
80,411 
1,017,625 
800 
4,096 
40,000 
2,530 

10 

2" 
52 

in 

DO 

li 
nn 
1" 

28,628 
6,837 
4,674 
3,699 
11,305 
15,848 
18,608 
12.039 
30,668 
14,054 
15,746 
8,917 
40,889 
23,327 
5  584 

M 

.-,:; 
63 
4o 
74 
7-; 
38 
97 

re 

50 
76 
22 

4s 

'•1 

October, 

27.905  81 

Nov.  1st. 

370,320 

'<! 

17,562 

Hi 

lo  "4" 

.  i 

November,           " 
December,            " 
January,            1865. 
February,              " 

105,553.50 
237,715  41 

48,443  29 
1,088,025  '57 

Dec.  1st. 
Jan.  1st. 
Feb.  1st. 
March  1st. 

351,920 
417,297 
329,162 
794,341 

79 

(is 

23 
19 

92,1  52 
37314 
41.003 
36,429 

ill 
1] 

:>l 

t;:, 

146  54 
178,151  1  68 
88  iOO 
,035,998!  96 

J  3/254  !  30 
22,248  82 
7.351  78 
15,596  96 

March, 
April, 

39,339  88 
45,571  42 

April  1st. 
May  1st. 

602,902 
553,922 

1^ 

Ss 

31,911  72 
37  ,  592  1  26 

3,335  76 
28950 

4,092  40 
7,689  66 

APPENDIX. 


551 


No.  7. 

LIST  OF  THE  SPECIAL  INSPECTOES  OF  THE  GENEKAL 
HOSPITALS  OF  THE  AKMY. 

FROM  SEPTEMBER  1,  1862,  to  MAY  1,  1863. 


HENRY  G.  CLARK,  M.D.,  Surgeon  of  Mass.  Gen.  Hospital,  Boston, . 
Inspector-in-Chief. 

ABBOTT,  SAMUEL  L.,  M.D.,  Mass.  General  Hospital Boston. 

ARMOR,  S.  G.  "     Prof.  Univ.  Michigan Ann  Arbor. 

AYER,  JAMES,  "     Boston 

BELL,  JOHN,  "     Philadelphia. 

BELL,  THEOD.  S.,  "     Prof.  Theor.  and  Pract.  Univ Louisville. 

BEMISS,  CHARLES  V.,  "     Med/ord,  Mass. 

BOWDITCH,  HENRY  L,  "     Physician  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

BRINSMADE,  T.  C.  "     Troy,  N.  Y. 

BUCK,  GURDON,  "     Surgeon  N.  Y.  Hospital New  York. 

BUCKINGHAM,  C.  E.,  "     Cons.  Physician  City  of  Boston Boston. 

CABOT,  SAMUEL,  Jr.,  "     Surgeon  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

COALE,  WM.  EDW.,  "     , Boston. 

COGSWELL,  M.  F.  "     Albany. 

COMEGYS,  C.  G.,  "     Cincinnati. 

DRAPER,  JOHN  W.,  "     Prof.  Chemistry,  Univ.  N.  Y New  York. 

ELLIS,  CALVIN,  "     Pathologist,  &c.,  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

FLINT,  JOSHUA  B.,  "     Prof.  Clin.  Surgery,  University Louisville. 

FOSTER,  S.  CONANT,  "     New  York. 

FOWLER,  EDMUND,  "     Montgomery,  Ala. 

GAY,  GEORGE  H.,  "     Surgeon  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

GOULD,  AUG.  A.,  "     Physician  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

GUNN,  MOSES,  "     Prof.  Surgery,  Univ.,  Michigan Detroit. 

HODGES,  RICH'DM..  "     Surgeon  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

HOMANS,  JOHN,  "     Ex-President  Mass.  Medical  Society Boston. 

HUN,  THOMAS,  "     Albany. 

HUNT,  WILLIAM,  "     Philadelphia. 

JACKSON,  J.  B.  S.,  "  Prof.  Morbid  Anat.,  Mass.  Med.  College,  &c..Boston. 

JACOBI,  A.,  "  Prof.  Infantile  Pathology,  &c.  Med.  Col... New  York. 

JARVIS,  EDWARD,  "     Member  of  American  Statistical  Society Boston. 

JOHNSON,  H.  A.,  "  Prof.  Physiology  and  Histology,Univ.  Lind.  CAica^o. 

JUDKINS,  DAVID,  "     Cincinnati. 

KRACKOWIZER,  E.,  "     New  York. 


552 


UNITED    STATES    SANITARY    COMMISSION. 


LEE,  CHARLES  A.,       M.D.,  Prof.  Mat.  Med.,  Med.  School  of  Maine..Peeksville. 

LEONARD,  F.  B.,  "     Lansingburg. 

LEWIS,  WINSLOW,  "  Consulting  Surgeon  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital. ...Boston. 

MARCH,  ALDEN,  "     Prof.  Surgery  Medical  College Albany. 

MENDENHALL,  G.,  "     Cincinnati. 

MINOT,  FRANCIS,  "     Physician  Mass.  General  Hospital Boston. 

MITCHELL,  S.  WEIR,  "     Philadelphia. 

MOREHOUSE,  G.  R.,  "     Philadelphia. 

MORELAND,  WM.  W.,  "     Boston. 

PITCHER,  Z.,  "     Emer.  Prof.  University,  Mich Detroit. 

POLLAK,  S.,  "     Surgeon  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary St.  Louis. 

POST,  ALFRED  C.,  "    Prof.  Surg.  Univ.,  N.  Y.,  &c.,  &c New  York. 

REID,  DAVID  B.,  "     St.  PauVs. 

ROCHESTER,  T.  F.,  "    Prof.  Clin.  Medicine,  University Buffalo. 

SAGER,  ABRAM,  "     Prof.  Obstetrics,  Univ.,  Michigan Ann  Arbor. 

SHAW,  BENJ.  S.,  "    Supt.  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

SHATTUCK,  G.  C.,  "  Prof.  Theor.  and  Prac.  Med.  College,  &c.... Boston. 

SLADE,  DANIEL  D.  " Boston. 

SMITH,  STEPHEN,  "  Prof.  Surg.  and  Surg.,  Bellevue  Hospital. New  York. 

SNOW,  EDWIN  M.,  "    Health  Officer,  &c Providence,  E.  I. 

TERRY,  CHARLES  A.,  "     Cleveland. 

VANDERPOOL,  S.  O.  "     Late  Surgeon-General,  N.   Y Albany. 

WALKER,  CLEMENT  A.,  "     Supt.  Lunatic  Asylum Boston. 

WARE,  CHARLES  E.,  "     Physician  Mass.  Gen'l  Hospital Boston. 

WHITE,  JAMES  P.,  "    Prof.  Obstet.,  University  of. Buffalo. 

WILLIAMS,  H.  W.,  "     Boston. 

WYMAN,  MORRILL,  "     Cambridge. 


APPENDIX.  553 

No.   8. 
LIST  OF  MONOGRAPHS, 

OR 

MILITARY,  MEDICAL,  AND  SURGICAL  ESSAYS  PREPARED  FOR 
THE   UNITED  STATES  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 


Military  Hygiene  and  Therapeutics. 

By  ALFRED  POST,  M.D.,  and  WM.  H.  VAN  BUREN,  M.D. 

Control  and  Prevention  of  Infectious  Diseases. 

By  ELISHA  HARRIS,  M.D. 

Quinine  as  a  Prophylactic  against  Malarious  Diseases. 

By  WM.  II.  VAN  BUREN,  M.D. 

Vaccination  in  Armies. 

By  F.  G.  SMITH,  M.D.,  and  ALFRED  STILLE,  M.D. 

Rules  for  Preserving  the  Health  of  the  Soldier. 

By  WM.  H.  VAN  BUREN,  M.D. 

Scurvy. 

By  WM.  A.  HAMMOND,  M.D. 

Miasmatic  Fevers. 

By  JOHN  T.  METCALF,  M.D. 

Continued  Fevers. 

By  J.  BAXTER  UPHAM,  M.D. 

Yellow  Fever. 

By  JOHN  T.  METCALF,  M.D. 

Pneumonia. 

By  AUSTIN  FLINT,  M.D. 

Dysentery. 

By  ALFRED  STILLE,  M.D. 

Pain  and  Anaesthetics. 

By  VALENTINE  MOTT,  M.D. 

Hemorrhage  from  Wounds,  and  the  Best  Means  of  Arresting  it. 

By  VALENTINE  MOTT,  M.D. 

Treatment  of  Fractures  in  Military  Surgery. 

By  JOHN  H.  PACKARD,  M.D. 

Amputations. 

By  STEPHEN  SMITH,  M.D. 

The  Excision  of  Joints  for  Traumatic  Cause. 

By  R.  M.  HODGES,  M.D. 

Venereal  Diseases. 

By  FREEMAN  J.  BUMSTEAD,  M.D. 

70 


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